Wizard City
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to The Shinaides Affair. A new tournament involving Wizards has started in TK City and it's being the rage. Subaru & co. quickly join it to try to make it into the finals and enjoy the experience, but this tournament isn't as simple as it may seem at first glance: there are some parties using it so as to gain something beneficial for their own hides. Rated M for lemon.
1. Chapter 1: Popular tournament

**Wizard City**

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: Popular tournament**

15:11 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday June the 28th, 2206…

"… Get him! Beast Swing 3!"

"Gra~h!"

"Crap!"

Akatsuki Shidou, Satella Police Officer, was having a battle pitting his custom Wizard, Acid, against a run-of-the-mill Wizard belonging to a man on his thirties.

"Heh! No big deal! Keep at it, Acid!"

"Affirmative."

Acid's powerful attack left deep claws marks on the Wizard's chest armor and he roared: he stopped levitating and fell into the ground, out of energy: the man sighed.

"I win!" Akatsuki exclaimed with a grin.

"Huff… Man… Guess ya do… Alright… Here are the 2 Wizard Points we agreed on."

Akatsuki collected two medals with a bluish Alphabet "W" character engraved on it with TK Tower's silhouette in the background.

"Yessir! I've got 8 Wizards Points. I've only gotta collect another four and I'll classify for the finals!" Akatsuki laughed as he walked away.

"… Get ready." Acid merely replied.

"Akatsuki. Fooling around?"

"By all the… _Doña_ Stalker showed up AGAIN?"

"Hmpf."

"Stop chasing me the whole time, will ya! Queen Tia!"

Queen Tia had her arms folded and looked totally unimpressed at Akatsuki's outburst of frustration.

"Two years! You've been doing this for two years and a week! Ever since the Meteor G thing got destroyed, the only thing you've done is criticize me all over again! CAN'T you do ANYTHING ELSE?" He growled.

"Maybe."

"Hey! But halt right there, you! No coming closer to Hibiki: I thought I'd left it clear and so had Dr. Yoiri?"

"I am bidding my time."

"What? You expect her to give up? She's not the type to give up so easily, just that you know!" Akatsuki growled.

"Ah. So you know her better than Hoshikawa does."

"NO! That's the impression she gives off! Now go collect lilies of the valley in Norway and leave us in peace!"

"Hmpf."

"By all the…! Grah! Sweet Candy! My kingdom for "Sweet Candy"…! I need some! We'll settle this later! GRJTXF!"

Akatsuki walked away at a quick pace while cursing under his breath and being followed by Acid.

"It rather looks like a vicious cycle." He merely commented.

"Ya mean that there's no end to it!" Akatsuki snapped back.

"Could be."

"Could be? There goes the lawyer apprentice again!"

"I am not a lawyer apprentice, Shidou."

"Whatever the ever! Go collect lilies of the valley in Norway too and leave me alone~! GRFTJX!"

15:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew! I'm fed up with this disguise… But there's no other way around without it! What an eyesore…"

Hibiki Misora, aged fourteen, entered her apartment and took off a blond wig and sunglasses.

Today she sported a blue vest jacket over a reddish t-shirt and jeans along with sneakers.

"Pororon! I know that it bothers you, Misora, but it's the only way not to get surrounded by a mob of die-hard-fans and reporters." Harp told her.

"Setting that asides… I've got 9 Wizard Points. I wonder how Subaru - kun and the others are faring like." Misora switched topics.

"Knowing them… They must be about to make it to the finals. I wouldn't be surprised if War Rock isn't giving Subaru any breaks at all." Harp giggled and sounded amused.

"It wouldn't surprise me, either." Misora admitted.

"Ah! By the way! They finally got rid of that bothersome geezer from back in February, right? Your duet with Moon Disaster was a big success, ya know, Misora! Porororon!"

"Tee, heh, heh. Deserved it, the geezer… Trying to set up a monopoly of records and forcing singers to hand over all of their songs for the guy to monopolize and sell at extravagant prices… That was against any law and against the feelings of singers!" Misora muttered.

"But we beat the gramps and even Hyde and his punk haven't bothered us again." Harp giggled.

"They sure haven't. They're cheap. And silly."

"Well said! Pororon! That's Misora for ya."

"O. K! Another 3 WP left… I'll get 'em all!"

"Go for it! _Girls' time_!"

17:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So! Tsukasa – kun… You must be glad that all the effort you've put into your rehabilitation during these last 4 months paid off… You can now walk normally!"

"True… Yeah… At last… I can bury my nightmares. I'm back to what I used to be… I must thank your support and help, Gino – kun…"

"Don't mind it! Kiboyama Gino 'ere is glad to help."

"Oi! Forgetting us?"

"Well. I know we're newbie guys but we don't wanna be left outta the fun! Right, guys?"

Futaba Tsukasa (sporting his usual clothes and keeping his green hair as it had used to be plus being closer to a meter and sixty in height) was walking down a curved metallic corridor with arched ceiling and having arches every some hundreds of meters: labeled armored door were set on both sides of it.

The person he was talking with was a guy about his age who had bluish eyes and brownish hair.

He sported a blackish sleeveless t-shirt, jeans, a black leather belt and white sneakers: he was one or two centimeters taller than Tsukasa.

"Of course not… Storm!"

A Wizard was accompanying Tsukasa: he looked reminiscent of Gemini, the FM who'd picked him as a host over two years ago.

His main body was shaped like a spheroid and colored in a patch of green identical to Tsukasa's hair.

His head was round and perfectly shaped: a white-like helmet protected it and included a pair of purple-colored thick shades: his skin was normal-colored and his face looked young.

Two sharp needle-like tools emerged from his armored and purple-colored forearms and replaced his normal hands.

The rest of the arms were painted with the black and yellow striping to signal "danger" as if hinting at the usage of the appendixes.

Like most modern Wizards, he had a hover device built into the inferior part of his body instead of legs which had been colored in the same black and yellow stripes combination.

"Well. I'm Storm. Whenever someone needs electrocuting then leave it to me. My appendixes can project up to 100.000 Volts each!" The Wizard introduced himself.

"Hey, Miles! You're right. Not like we intend to forget you…"

Miles's main body was more "humanoid" in shape and colored in a brownish color similar to sand: some patterns had been drawn over the body to form plates of armor.

His helmet had been painted sea blue and black shades hid his eyes yet it looked strong and resistant.

His arms were colored in a reddish color with white color stripes running up and down their length: the forearms had extra armor on them and his hands' "skin" was black.

He carried a round golden shield with a silver edge and center on his left hand which was large enough to protect half of his body.

Like a Roman Legionary, he wielded a large lance with a brown body and silver spear set atop it: the weapon looked easy to maneuver and powerful at the same time.

Like Storm, he also had a hover engine built onto the lower part of his body which allowed him to remain air-bone.

"Good! I have 7 WP. And you, Gino – kun?"

"I have 10 already.

"Whoa. You're fast. But I won't be left behind, Gino - kun! I'll beat you to the remaining points!"

"Come anytime!"

18:04 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Guwa~h! No way, no way, no way~! Why~! Why did I lose~! I am invincible! I should've made it to the finals by now! And proven to Ai – chan I deserve her affection…!"

"Buro~! Ya lost 'cause ya had your head full of idiotic stuff… Gonta! Cry all ya want but what's done is done. No turning back!"

"Guwa~h!"

Ushijima Gonta was crying inside of his chaotic room while Ox, his Wizard, was grumbling and looked annoyed.

"Buro~! The Folder was bad to begin with: point one! I told ya to improve it: point two! There's a limit to what the great me can do alone! There are _rules_ to begin with! And they clearly state that a Wizard can only use _one_ "Special Ability". Since ya chose "Ramming", I was always sacrificing my HP to inflict damage… But you then forgot to back me up! Hence why we've been eliminated. And your greediness to gather Wizard Points quickly by staking ALL of the points you had added to it, too." Ox listed.

"Guwa~h! I had 8! 8! And I had to lose to some silly 4th grade guy! Why, why, why~!" He didn't seem to have listened.

"Buro~! I said it! Your Folder WAS BAD. Ya DIDN'T HELP THE GREAT ME! Ya PICKED THE WRONG ABILITY! Ya WERE GREEDY! Your head WAS FILLED WITH IDIOTIC STUFF!" He yelled.

"Guwa~h! Damn Jack! It's gotta be his fault!"

"Corvus' host ain't to blame! Admit your OWN FAILURE, FATMAN!"

"I AIN'T A FATMAN!"

"YA ARE! _IINCHOU_ SAYS THAT!"

"DAMN KIZAMARO! HE GAVE ADVICE TO THE 4th GRADE JERK!"

"NO! YOU COULD'VE ASKED FOR HIS ADVICE BUT DIDN'T!"

"I'LL REMEMBER THIS!"

18:10 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Achoo!"

"Achoo!"

"Someone is talking badly about us, _iinchou_."

"Fatman! Gotta be the Fatman!"

"Come on…"

"That name is turning silly."

"You know _iinchou_, Pedia… She can't see Gonta – kun in front of her without exploding…"

"Lovely."

"Quiet, Mode!"

Saishouin Kizamaro and Shirogane Luna had been going over some reports when they got a cold all of a sudden: Pedia and Mode began to mutter while Luna began to get annoyed.

"If this wasn't enough that repulsive person is trying to rob Subaru – kun's heart!" She cursed.

"Not again, _iinchou_… Look! That of "stealing the heart" is a metaphor yet Misora – chan isn't doing that. They're just friends like he's friends with all of us!" Kizamaro protested.

"Don't try to elude the reality, Kizamaro! I KNOW IT!"

"Oh not again…" Kizamaro sighed in defeat.

"Hibiki Misora! I won't let cha get away with it! Subaru – kun has a crush on me: I just know it!"

"Wrong…" Kizamaro muttered.

"Stick out cha neck! _Mishirushi choudai_! I'll slice it!"

"No good…" Kizamaro grimly gasped.

18:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… H-hello… I'm back…"

"Ah! Utagai – kun… What's the matter?"

Utagai Shinsuke walked into the main WAXA control center, which was filled with activity: Amachi Mamoru greeted him.

"Eh… W-well… I am a bit ashamed to say it, but… I've collected 10 Wizards Points… So…" He admitted.

"WHAT?" Everyone exclaimed.

"Whoa! Cool!" Jack whistled.

"Intriguing." Queen Tia muttered.

"Bravo!" The Chief smiled.

"That's a fine young man over there! Back in my times…" Dr. Yoiri began with a smile.

"… Pop music was popular, we know, hakase…" Akatsuki grinned.

"No, no. What she means is…" Amachi intervened.

"Congratulations, Utagai!" Hoshikawa Daigo patted his back.

"T-thank you, sir…"

"Heh. I missed this thrill." Cygnus admitted.

"… and such, back in the 2180s…" Dr. Yoiri kept on saying.

"… Soda was popular, we know, hakase…"

"And when the 2190s came in then…"

"Josef Nen Toi became popular, we know, hakase… By the way! If we compete then I'll go all out on Utagai – san!"

"Yikes. I knew it: the omens came!" Utagai gasped.

"There aren't omens to begin with…" Cygnus sighed.

18:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Been a while since I set foot in here… And… It's been almost two years since I first set foot here… Two years… Time sure flies by, Master…!"

"Doesn't it, Subaru?"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. My aunt's ghost would find this place to be comfortable, ya know!"

"Oh come on. Rock. Denpa Bodies don't have aunts."

"Now we do! Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"What silliness, really."

Hoshikawa Subaru was sitting in a red leather armchair placed within the living room of a house somewhere and close to a non-functioning fireplace.

The other armchair was occupied by a man on his mid-20s who had blackish hair and his eyes irises' were brown: his facial traits looked similar to those of Subaru.

War Rock, Subaru's Wizard, was hovering close by and starting to pull trolls which neither of them seemed to like.

"By the way, Subaru… Could you fill me in regarding this tournament? I've been somewhat disconnected from the news given how I had to work on some hospital stuff." The man requested.

"Hospital Man strikes back!"

"No… I am Dr. Lartes! And you know that, War Rock."

"War Rock! Don't be rude to Master!"

"Mastery Mastering of Masters? Mwah, hah, hah."

"This guy…! Go collect lilies of the valley!"

"Alright! And I'll bring them to Tsukasi~ and Gino Il Napolitano~ saying they're a sign of affection! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"That guy…! Anyway… Let's forget him… Regarding the "Wizard City Tournament"… The organizer is the super-conglomerate "Terapeta Incorporated", which formed several years ago. They threw this "Wizard City Tournament" together because they believe it was about time something was made on a wider scale compared to the small regional Wizard Tournaments." Subaru began explaining.

"And what are the rules?" Dr. Lartes asked.

"Any appliances must be registered via the Hunter – VG to them and they are double-checked by the Satella Police to ensure fair play. The main "Battle Royale" phase lasts four days. All participants are given 2 Wizard Points. Both players must agree on staking a number of Wizard Points at every battle. And, also, Mega and Giga – Class Battle Cards are forbidden so as to make it more accessible to the general public who can't afford them. The winner takes the staked Wizard Points: 12 is the max."

"How many have you gathered insofar?"

"Heh, heh! I've gotten 11 already." Subaru admitted.

"I knew you'd make it far with War Rock's "bust-them-all" attitude, my disciple." Lartes looked amused.

"Only eight persons will make it to the finals. Insofar one has done so, but his or her identity won't be disclosed until tomorrow at 7 o'clock in the evening." Subaru added.

"So, I assume than there is going to be a round of eight to reduce the number to the "Best 4" and then proceed to 2 semi-finals to decide the finalists?"

"I guess so. I'm very excited about it. The whole tournament is taking part in TK City due to its strategic location and wide spaces. Various advertising companies have been invited to promote their products with ads. And several TV companies have gotten the rights of filming, broadcasting, and future record selling. There's a lot of people backing "Terapeta Inc." so they will gain a lot back taking into account the huge amount they must've had to invest in order to set all of this up." Subaru detailed.

"That was obvious. You don't set this up without finding ways to gain profits from it. I'm now quite interested. I'll be seeing how you make your way through it."

"Thank you, sir."

"B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Come to my side~!"

"Not again…"

"OMEGA!"

"Ya called, Dr. House?"

Someone suddenly dropped down _from the ceiling_ and landed in the space amidst the room.

"Calling on Uncle Omega~!"

Omega happened to be a Wizard about a meter and eighty tall.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed amusement while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached until the floor.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

"Omega – san…! Not again… You act like a spider, sir!" Subaru complained with a groan.

"'Cause I'm a Spider-Man copycat…" He laughed.

"Don't meddle in this, Omega, and don't lay your hands on Subaru. Or else you know what happens!" Dr. Lartes grumbled.

"We sink 'long the clowns!" He laughed again.

"Someone stop him…" Subaru groaned.

"So! Subari~! Go and do some _strip-tease_!"

"By all the…"

Dr. Lartes violently stood up and signaled Omega with the right hand's index finger.

"Get – out – of – here – NOW." He hissed.

"Yessir! Spider Man V 2206: go!"

He jumped towards the ceiling and attached to it to then crawl away through it while giggling: Subaru was as red as a tomato by now and looked baffled.

"Omega…! I knew I was a bad idea to bring him along as security in case Hyde and the punk tried to do something!"

"… That was… so… embarrassing…!" Subaru muttered.

"Obviously! That guy has a _yaoi_ mentality and we need to purge that: maybe the only good thing is that he doesn't have "that" given how he's an android to begin with…" Dr. Lartes grumbled.

"Y-yeah… That's the good part, true… At least Solo just looked on… Luckily he's been turning serious again."

"Solo looked on? But…" Dr. Lartes frowned.

"W-well… There was… hum… no contact yet… hum… I did stuff… and he merely looked on…"

"That had to be rather embarrassing as well but at least he's not the type to go yelling about it… Anyway! I'm confident that you'll fare nicely enough in the tournament. Go home and rest." Dr. Lartes switched topics.

"T-thank you, Master, sir… I'll do my best, sir."

"I don't doubt you'll do! Go for it, my disciple!"

"B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Hibiki wants the video of your _strip-tease_~!"

"OMEGA~! YOU BOTHERSOME MEDDLING JERK! YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN!"

_Lovely. This place is turning crazy again…!_


	2. Chapter 2: Gathering of Wizards

**Chapter 2: Gathering of Wizards**

10:37 AM (Japan Time), Thursday June the 29th…

"… Grrr! Eat this! Mad Vulcan 3!"

"Uo~h!"

War Rock shot several machinegun shots to a run-of-the-mill Wizard and he fell into the ground, beaten.

"Hah! That was worth the boring time I had yesterday afternoon." War Rock grinned.

"You have to hand me 1 Wizard Point as we'd staked." Subaru told the elementary school student.

"O.K. I knew I stood no chance against someone so famous, anyway. But it was fun." The student shrugged.

Subaru nodded and walked away while inputting the bar code into the Hunter – VG so as to register his victory: an email soon appeared onscreen:

"… "Congratulations on gathering 12 Wizards Points. You are classified for the finals. Come to Roppondo Hills 7th District and ask for the "Pub" to one man who will be waiting close to the bus stand. Show him the Wizard Points so that you will be told the place. You have until PM 7:00 to get there. Yours sincerely, the organizing committee." … We did it! We got into the finals!" Subaru grinned.

"Heh, heh! So? Who will we meet there?" War Rock asked: he was floating behind Subaru's right shoulder and peeking into the Hunter – VG's holographic screen.

"Hum… Well… There's that unknown participant who got there by yesterday, Tsukasa – kun, Akatsuki - san, Gino – kun, Misora – chan and I insofar… We're still missing two persons to fill all of the gaps." Subaru counted with his fingers and frowned.

"The Dynamic Duo!"

"Who?"

"Brad Shad and Stigma Man!"

"Blood Shadow and Sigma – san? Nope. They're not taking part into the tournament, ya know."

"Then Mr. Universe!"

"Of course not…"

"Hikaru!"

"Hikaru? We'd learnt of that time ago if Kuroban had sent him to stage some ruckus."

"Hyde!"

"Hyde ain't involved: he's playing "phantom thief" in Austria." Subaru corrected with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Wha~t… And I wanted to slice that silly hat!"

"We'll get a chance someday."

"Then I'll go announce the nature of the S – T – G triangle!"

"Chut! Shaddup!" Subaru gasped and nervously looked around as if checking no – one had heard that.

"The newest item in the news…!"

"SHUT UP…!" Subaru hissed.

"Heh, heh, heh. Scary, scary~!" He joked.

"GRTJXTF! We'll settle this later, you!"

"You ruffian!" War Rock laughed.

"I give up!" Subaru groaned.

"Mwah, hah, hah. 100 points for the great me~!"

_Is he never gonna learn to keep the trap shut?_

12:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yo! Guys. What's up?"

"Blood – kun! I did it! I also gathered 12 WPs!"

"Congrats, Tsukasa – kun!"

"Thanks, Blood – kun!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Brad Shad's plottin' somethin'?"

"Blood Shadow. And I'm not "plotting" anything, Sigma."

Tsukasa had encountered the guy named Blood Shadow.

Blood Shadow looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"Stigma Man shows up!"

"You're named "Sigma"…"

Sigma was about two meters tall and was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in lazy manner.

"Mwah, hah, hah. So? What's that talk of the "triangle" which War Rock tells me?"

"Nothing. Just a prank. He thinks you're a nitwit."

"Wha~t? The great me, a nitwit? I'm gonna have him swallow those words back! War Rock!" He grumbled.

He ran off and both of them sighed in relief: Tsukasa suddenly seemed to get dizzy and had to lean against the left wall while clutching his knees: Blood Shadow gasped but Tsukasa seemed to recover.

"D-don't worry… I've been walking all across TK City so I'm still tired and haven't had a moment to rest yet…"

"Don't push it. The medics say you've recovered, true, yet your case was somewhat out of the ordinary. If you feel like your legs ache then pull a halt to it and rest: I hope you have somewhere to sit at wherever the finals are at." Blood Shadow advised.

"T-thanks for the advice…! I'm gonna go… nap for a while… And maybe I should have a painkiller too…" He muttered.

He walked down the corridor and stopped in front of a door labeled "FUTABA TSUKASA" which he opened: he directed a smile at Blood Shadow and closed the door: Blood Shadow looked concerned given how he brought the left hand to his chin.

"Tsukasa – kun… I know it must feel good for you to be able to stand and properly walk again but… don't overdo it. I need to warn Dr. Lartes, he'll know how to advise him…" He muttered.

"… Oi! Where did my Hunter – VG go to and what's this note saying "taken off by Mr. Big Bang"?" Sigma's voice rang out.

_Lovely. Sir Omega got back and he's gonna troll us all day long! As if things weren't mad enough! _

18:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… That man must be the one…"

"Sure thing… You look cool with that wig and those contacts, Subaru – kun! Tee, heh, heh."

"Huh… Well… Yeah, I guess… That disguise isn't half bad, though, Misora –chan…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. A proposal?"

"Pororon! No way."

Subaru (having a silver-haired wig on plus blue contacts and sporting jeans, a tropical t-shirt and sunglasses plus sneakers) was talking with Misora (having her disguise on as well) as they spotted a man on his 30s wearing a black cap with the word "pub" on it close by: War Rock made a joke and Harp didn't like it.

"Shut up already!" Subaru hissed.

"Yeah. Shut the beak."

War Rock grumbled under his breath and both then approached the man after checking that no – one was looking.

"Where's the pub?" Both asked.

"Here! Are you two finalists? May I see your Wizard Points?"

Both of them showed the twelve physical Wizard Points and the man scanned their barcodes with a Hunter – VG he carried: their profiles popped out and it showed twelve round red spots immediately below the name.

"Perfect! Here you have your ID cards. You're finalists 3 and 4." The man told them as he handed them two blue and white ID cards with the words "WIZARD CITY" and a number written on them.

"Where is the place?" Subaru asked.

"Do you see that big stadium under construction? Over there!"

"Thank you very much." Misora thanked.

"Good afternoon."

They both headed towards them and entered the main round arena where two men in business suits and on their 30s were awaiting.

"Welcome. May we see your ID cards?" One of them politely asked after greeting them.

They both displayed them and the man checked them before handing them back.

"Excellent. You will find the other finalists on those benches over there, so you may head there." The same man indicated.

Both walked towards one bench and spotted Akatsuki playing a pinball game with his Hunter – VG and Acid was floating nearby.

"Akatsuki – san, sir! You made it, sir."

"It was obvious, wasn't it?"

"Heh, heh! As far as I can see I'm the first one. The early guy from yesterday didn't come yet."

"Who else will be coming?" Subaru wondered aloud.

"That'd be us! _Presto_."

"_Piano_."

"Stormy!"

"Milestone!"

Kiboyama, Tsukasa, Storm and Miles headed over them while laughing at their own mottos.

"Hey! Tsukasa – kun and Gino – kun, you made it!" Subaru greeted.

"Hello, Akatsuki – san and Misora – chan. You two made it, too. We're numbers 5 & 6 respectively." Tsukasa greeted them with a broad smile on his face.

"It was intense! My last guy was the diehard type." Kiboyama told Subaru.

"He sure was." Miles agreed on it.

"G-good evening, everyone…"

"Don't be so nervous."

Utagai and Cygnus headed towards them: he carried the card with the number "7" on it and looked rather nervous.

"By all the…! Cygnus! Ye have made it this far?" War Rock was totally impressed.

"I sure did." Cygnus calmly replied.

"Cygnus has always been a strong one, after all…" Harp commented with a hint of amusement.

"We're still missing numbers 1 and 8… There's still half an hour left so there's ample time." Akatsuki commented with a smile

"Someone mentioned me?" An unknown voice asked in a jovial tone from close by.

A guy came in through one of the entrances.

He was about Subaru and his friends' age and appealed as being around a meter and sixty tall: his skin was teal and so was his hair: it grew until it almost reached the base of his neck and his eyes irises' were of a sea blue color.

He sported jeans, boots and a purplish sleeveless vest with three pairs of golden buttons connected by golden chains: it was somewhat short, so a bit of skin between the waist and the lower torso was visible.

He also wore two pairs of golden bracelets around his wrists to complete his outfit.

Additionally, he carried a sports bag like everyone else.

"Good evening. I'm Shinnai Nick. Nice to meet all of you." He introduced himself: his voice was soft and didn't seem too grown up.

"So! You're the person who made it to the finals so fast?" Subaru asked.

"Indeed. My Wizard and my combos made a good work together… Let me present you to Wotan." Nick announced.

Wotan's main body was shaped like an inverted-cone and the choice of colors for it was orange accompanied with black stripes.

His face was protected by a face-guard shaped like a gas mask filter and reddish shades covered his eyes.

His shoulders were encompassed by bulky spheroids colored green with brown stripes: his arms ended in five claw-fingers colored purple and which shone with a creepy purple halo.

The lower part of his body had the hover system built into it.

"You'll have to excuse him: he's not much of a talker." Nick apologized while scratching the back of his head.

"Thus we're left with Number 8…" Misora commented.

"Attention, please…" One of the businessmen called for their attention.

They all walked towards the two of them and stood close to them.

"Ahem. It's a quarter to seven. While we wait for the last contestant to show up we'll announce something: this place isn't the real stage for the final battles." The same man admitted.

"I'd guessed so." Akatsuki grinned.

"The true stage is about to appear." The other announced.

The sound of heavy engines was heard and a large black-metallic-colored craft shaped like a cone with wings appeared over them: the thing was about the same width of the field they were currently standing at.

"This is the true stage: the Wizard Ship!" One of the men announced.

The craft landed and everyone looked at its totally aerodynamic and aesthetic form as a small hatch opened and a retractable ramp was lowered.

"Alright. All of the contestants have an individual cabin and they're numbered, so, without any more prologues..." One of them announced.

"Please come inside: we will depart in ten minutes' time." The second man announced.

Everyone stepped in and headed for their individual cabins which unlocked using their ID cards.

"Let's see…" Subaru muttered.

He stepped into his cabin: it included a bed, a fridge, a table and two armchairs and included an adjacent bathroom plus three portholes to look out.

"Whoa! And this whole cabin is just for me… They're very kind!" Subaru exclaimed.

"Heh! You'd rather preferred they'd allowed ya to share one with Misora, eh, Subari~?" War Rock teased.

"That's enough, War Rock!" Subaru complained.

"Or, rather, to bring Gino and Tsukasa to play "triangle"… Like ya have been doing for a while… Heh, heh, heh."

"ENOUGH!"

"Subaru? What's wrong?" Akatsuki called out from the outside.

"Ah! Eh… War Rock is being nosy again, sir!"

"Oi, War Rock! That's enough! Ya wanna brawl? I'll make mincemeat of ya in the tournament!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Come, Acid Disaster!"

"Acid _Ace_!" He corrected with a groan.

"Moon Ace is in my side! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"SSSHHH!" Misora, Akatsuki, Subaru, Utagai, Kiboyama and Tsukasa hissed.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

18:50 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm? Someone's coming… Oh! Look. I think we have the 8th contestant at last."

"Good!"

The two men spotted a person clad in a black cloak, cap and sunglasses heading towards them at a quick pace: he slowed down and stopped in front of the ramp.

"Are you Contestant Number 8?" One of the men asked.

The newcomer merely took the ID card out and the staff man checked it to make sure it was correct.

"Perfect. Please come inside: we're about to depart." The man instructed to the newcomer.

The newcomer nodded and climbed inside: he immediately gasped and hid to the left side of the corridor entrance to then peek in: the group from before was standing in the entrance of Subaru's room and apparently discussing with him.

"We're telling you to be quiet! Porororon!"

"Where's your honor?" Miles questioned.

"Rather, will you shut up?" Storm grumbled.

"You are bothersome." Acid drily told him.

"You get way too excited." Cygnus scolded.

"Mwah, hah, hah. The stormy weather and the milestone wanna try to stop the great me~?" War Rock laughed.

"Boss? Yeah, it's me, sir. See, regarding…" Subaru began saying.

"Uo~h! Don't call the guy, don't call the guy! I'll shut up! I don't wanna be locked in the server another two months!"

The newcomer formed a grin and chuckled under his breath…

18:56 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I feel nervous. I dunno why."

Nick had sat down on his cabin's armchair and leaned his elbows on the table so as to lean his nose over his intercrossed hands: he had closed his eyes and seemed to be reflecting before he opened them again and he narrowed them.

"Perhaps… Nah. What am I thinking? I never drink. Then, why do I feel like I have gaps on my memories?

He then sighed and looked out at the landscape: the full moon was clearly visible.

"Full moon… Every time I see it, I freak out and I know the reason…" He muttered with a hint of fear on his voice.

He folded his arms and closed his eyes again while he kept on looking out at the landscape.

"… Ugh. No, I don't wanna think of that… Let's try to think of something else… Huh… What strategy should I use? I dunno the order of battles in the finals… And everyone has different types, so… Guess I'll have to keep on with the current one…" He muttered.

He looked at the window's reflection and gasped: his door had been opened by a narrow margin and a figure could be seen looking inside so he whipped around and ran for the door only to find no – one there and the corridor empty.

"… My imagination…? Lights playing tricks on me, guess… Really… I'm turning paranoid." He frowned.

He shrugged and turned around to get inside of his room while shutting the door: he didn't spot Number 8 looking out through a gap on his own room's door while displaying calm and maybe surprise: he closed the door and the corridor became deserted: Nick didn't realize it.

_Well! Gotta focus if I wanna get into the Best 4! I won't hold back but I'll play fair, too! Let's go all out!_

20:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Attention to all contestants: please come into the main lobby so that the order of the Round of 8 battles can be decided." One of the staff announced via the P.A. system.

The contestants came out and headed into a wide square-shaped metallic room which had some tables with served food on it: the mysterious Number 8 was leaning against a column in a rather hidden corner so no – one except Nick seemed to notice his presence: Nick looked surprised for a split second but then looked elsewhere so as to not to let the others realize it.

_That guy… Why does he give me such vibes?_

A bingo machine had been installed atop a slightly elevated platform and there were eight numbered spheres inside of it: one of the staff men was standing besides the machine.

"The order will be decided by this machine at random. The rest of the battles won't be decided until one of the battles is over. Before that, though, do enjoy this supper." The staff man instructed.

Everyone began eating and chatting: again, only Nick seemed to realize where Number 8 was because the others had seemingly forgotten that he was onboard to begin with.

_That guy…! I'm sure I'm the only one who's noticed him._

Number 8 seemed to notice that Nick was discreetly looking towards him and he made a smug smile: Nick kept a serious face and then walked towards Subaru.

"By the way! Nick – kun… What's your strategy?" Subaru asked him.

"Huh? Ah! I combine attack and defense. I start off with combined combo attacks and then use Wotan's Special Ability to poison my enemy. I then entered defensive mode and wait until the poison wipes out the enemy's HP. That's how I was able to win so quickly and get into the finals yesterday."

"Interesting strategy." Subaru commented.

However, Misora seemed to react to something in the conversation: she slowly looked over her right shoulder to Nick and Subaru with a suspicious look.

"What's wrong, Misora?" Akatsuki asked her.

"Huh… Nothing, sir. I was just wondering if I'd be able to fend off against such a strategy if Nick – kun was to be my opponent." Misora improvised with an innocent smile.

"Uh! I'd have trouble with it, too. I better start thinking of something to do about it right now…" Akatsuki admitted.

"… Say, Tsukasa – kun…"

"What's up, Gino – kun?"

Kiboyama and Tsukasa were talking in an animated way: Kiboyama turned serious and glanced towards the spot where Number 8 was at.

"Do you know who that man is?" Kiboyama asked him.

"What man…? Huh? Is that the 8th contestant?" Tsukasa frowned and then spotted him.

Again, Number 8 merely put up a smug smile and then looked elsewhere: both Kiboyama and Tsukasa looked puzzled and Kiboyama was frowning.

"I have a feeling… I feel like I knew him from somewhere… But I can't place the where and when…" Kiboyama muttered in a low tone.

"Is that so? Intriguing." Tsukasa looked quite surprised.

"… Forget it, please…"

"If you say so…"

"W-will I really be alright, Cygnus?" Utagai asked him yet again.

"Jeez. _You_ will be alright. _I _am the one who must fight. It's not like we used to do." Cygnus grumbled.

"Attention, please! We're going to announce the order of battles." The staff announced.

The machine was booted up and the spheres floated inside of the bingo machine so one sphere came out: it had the number 3.

"Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS…" The staff man trailed off: he was waiting for the next sphere.

The sphere having the number 5 came out next.

"… Contestant Number 5: Kiboyama Gino!" The staff man finished announcing.

"Wow! It's like I'd wished for! I'm going to face Subaru – kun!" Kiboyama exclaimed.

None of them spotted Number 8 looking displeased for a split second but then resuming his smug smile.

"The rest of the contestants may look on by climbing into the 2nd floor and checking out the stage." The second staff man announced.

Everyone (except Number 8, who went off on his own without anyone noticing the fact) headed out of the room and climbed some metallic stairs into a wide large room where a small rectangular platform had been set: some TV cameras were installed at different angles and there were also several sets of spotlights to help illuminate the arena.

"The rules are the same as in the Battle Royale. No Mega or Giga – Class Battle Cards are allowed. You may just use _one _Special Ability _once_ in the whole Battle. The Folder limit is 30 Battle Cards and the time limit is 30 minutes." The staff man announced while Subaru and Gino assumed their posts.

"Go all out, Subaru – kun! I won't let you hold back!"

"Alright! That's my style, too, Gino – kun!"

"Combatants: assume position! Wizards: materialize! On my signal! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…!"


	3. Chapter 3: Sword face off

**Chapter 3: Sword face-off**

20:45 PM (Japan Time), Thursday June the 29th…

"… Battle Start!"

"Heavy Cannon!"

"Barrier!"

Subaru's attack met a Barrier which blocked it off and then cracked.

"Double Eater! Wide Sword!"

Kiboyama's combo proved to be a good one since he reduced the amount of spaces War Rock could use, and the Wide Sword had the advantage of filling a whole row: War Rock was hit but he merely recoiled and got ready for a new assault.

"Mad Vulcan 3!" Subaru announced.

"Crap!" Gino uttered.

The attack caught Miles just when he was going to warp and strike War Rock with another Wide Sword: Subaru scored a Counter Hit and got access to a bonus Battle Card.

"Air Spread 3!"

"Barrier!"

One of the multiple hits was blocked off by the barrier, but the others hit Miles and he recoiled.

"Time for counterattack, Miles! Double Eater! Great Axe!" Gino announced as he wiped off the sweat from his forehead.

Yet again, this combo made avoiding the incoming attack impossible and War Rock was hit by the Great Axe: he snarled and floated back, getting his claws ready.

"Windy Attack 3!" Subaru announced.

"Super Barrier!" Kiboyama counter-announced.

War Rock's next attack failed to meet the target since the Super Barrier blocked it off, too.

"Edogiri Blade 3!"

"Shirahadori!"

"What!"

War Rock responded to the next attack, but it failed to break through the Super Barrier.

"This is turning very intense. It'd seem both of them are going to focus on Sword-Type Battle Cards." Akatsuki was seemingly analyzing the battle style given his face.

"It totally looks like it."

"It's hard to predict how it'll progress like."

"Yeah. I get that same feeling, too."

Nick was distractedly watching Number 8, who was on the opposite ledge in front of them, although he'd picked an angle where it was hard to see him: Nick kept on looking suspicious of him while Number 8 seemed to be interested in the ongoing battle and had a smug smile on his face.

_That guy…! Ah! Come on! It's gotta be someone the company brought over: they thought a masked guy who gives you the vibes would keep you thrilled and eager for the next face-off so you go all out and make a better battle for the audience…!_

"Attack Panel! Double Eater! Mad Vulcan 3!" Subaru announced.

This time, the power of the Mad Vulcan 3 managed to pierce the Super Barrier thanks to the 10 points bonus of the Attack Panel: Miles hissed something and stepped back.

"Noised Wizard 3!" Subaru announced.

"Holy Panel!" Kiboyama quickly countered.

"Crap! Counter…!"

A Holy Panel formed in Kiboyama's side of the Field and reduced a good deal of the damage the attack would've normally inflicted to Miles.

"Recovery 200! Heel Wizard 3!"

Kiboyama's next combo inflicted a good deal of damage to War Rock: he recoiled and grumbled something undecipherable under his breath.

"Recovery 200! Beast Swing 3!" Subaru announced.

"Grr! Have a taste of my claws!" War Rock announced.

He quickly filled the space with the swing of his claws and hit Miles several times: but the effect of the Holy Panel allowed for the damage inflicted to be cut in half.

"You're doing very well, Subaru – kun!" Kiboyama told him.

"Thanks for the compliment! But this is far from over, Gino – kun!" Subaru replied with a smile.

"Special Ability: Pain Sword! By using the damage reduced by the Holy Panel, I can use a Muramasa-type of sword attack to inflict the damage back to War Rock!" Kiboyama announced.

"… Whoa. That's a powerful Special Ability." Akatsuki whistled in surprise.

"Now I see how he made it this far. His Holy Panel is a key piece of his battle style..." Misora lifted her eyebrows.

"I knew that he was aiming at something with it." Tsukasa grinned.

"I wonder what kind of Special Ability War Rock has… Maybe Subaru – kun will use it now." Nick wondered aloud.

"… Special Ability: Destruction Claws! My next Sword-Elemental attack will gain a 25% power bonus per each Sword-Elemental Battle Card I've used until now!" Subaru announced.

"Is that for real? Awesome! Which one will be left standing?" Akatsuki sounded totally surprised.

"Interesting." Acid dully muttered.

Both War Rock and Miles rushed towards each other: Miles hit War Rock several times but War Rock struck back with some precise and well-laid attacks.

"The outcome…!"

When they backed off, both looked exhausted and almost unable to keep on with the battle.

"Recovery 300!"

"Recovery 300!"

Both healed significantly and assumed combat postures again.

"War Rock's Special Ability almost got me! I must admit it. However! I'll fight to the very end!" Kiboyama admitted before making a declaration.

"… Double Stone!" Subaru announced.

Two stones appeared on the Field and made attacking for Miles hard: he looked annoyed by the trick.

_I could win time with this…_

"I'd predicted this. Bomb Riser!" Kiboyama grinned.

"What!" Subaru uttered.

A brutal explosion encompassed a big chunk of the terrain and hit War Rock: he was propelled backward but he managed to hold on and panted: he then grumbled something under his breath and faced his opponent again.

"Shuri Shuriken 3!"

The attack caught Miles off-guard and delivered some damage to him, but, since the Holy Panel was still on the Field, it was reduced to half.

"Ground Wave 3! Jet Attack 3!"

War Rock managed to dodge the quick attack, but he got distracted and Miles hit him with the Jet Attack 3 attack.

"War Rock! Recovery 300!"

"Mini Grenade! Mini Grenade!"

"Plasma Gun! Panel Format! Drill Arm 3!"

War Rock managed to dodge both Mini Grenades and counter-attacked with the Plasma Gun, which paralyzed Miles.

_Good! Let's keep at it…! Man! I'm so thrilled! I hadn't felt such thrill for a long time…!_

The Panel Format erased the Holy Panel and War Rock chained it with the Drill Arm 3, which inflicted further damage due to it being Breaker-Elemental and Miles being a Sword-Elemental Wizard.

"Double Eater! Synchro Hook 3!" Kiboyama announced.

Miles quickly attacked War Rock and "synchronized" his current HP with War Rock's so that both were at the same amount.

"Silver Meteor!" Subaru announced.

"Aura!" Kiboyama announced.

The Aura protected Miles from the random Silver Meteors which were bombarding the far nine panels.

"It'd seem we can't prolong this forever. We must settle this, Gino – kun."

"I agree, Subaru – kun."

"Hammer Weapon 3! Mahi Plus! Heavy Down 3!"

The Hammer Weapon's shockwave destroyed the Aura and inflicted a Paralyze effect to Miles, who couldn't escape being crushed by the powerful Breaker – Elemental attack.

"Miles!" Kiboyama gasped.

When the smoke cleared, it was clear that Miles couldn't move anymore, and his HP counter was down to 1 HP.

"U-ugh… Can't move… anymore…"

"Miles cannot move and has fallen below the 10 HP mark. The winner of the first battle of the Round of 8 is Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru!" The referee announced while holding his right arm up.

"Whoa. Subaru actually won." Akatsuki whistled in surprise.

Both combatants stepped down the stage and shook hands.

"It was a very fun experience, Subaru – kun. Congratulations." Kiboyama told him.

"Thanks, Gino – kun. You put up a very good battle, too." Subaru told him while extending his right hand.

Both did a handshake and blinked to each other.

"The next combat will be announced in half an hour's time. Please take the opportunity to rest and revise your Folders." The referee announced.

Everyone (Number 8, as usual, went off alone) walked down the stairs and headed back into the lower deck.

"You fought to the end. I liked your strategies. They were very good. That Holy Panel was used wisely." Nick was telling Kiboyama.

"Thanks, Nick – kun. I've been working very hard on it." Kiboyama thanked.

"I'm excited when I think about what kind of battle the next face-off will be like." Misora admitted.

"Huh… I'd rather hope I'm the last one to be picked…" Utagai grimly muttered while making a weak chuckle.

"Don't be so defeatist, Utagai – san!" Subaru tried to encourage him with a smile.

"One thing is for sure: Queen Tia can't force me to bear her "Icy Stare of Death" while I'm onboard this ship." Akatsuki grinned.

"Shidou…" Acid grumbled.

"Ye sure were a hard dude to deal with!" War Rock was telling Miles as he laughed.

"I never make it easy." Miles simply replied.

"I don't, either." Storm added.

"… Pororon! I can see that our naughty guys are itching for the next battles." Harp teased them.

"That's obvious." Cygnus shrugged.

Wotan didn't speak a single word and kept the same serious face.

"Well then! Let's meet in a little while."

Nick began searching his pockets to find his ID card: he noticed that cabin 8's door was slightly open and the mysterious Number 8 was looking towards him from inside of the cabin.

_The masked man again…! And now I feel like he was the guy who tried to snoop into my room before the 1__st__ match… What, he wants to check that we don't bring anything which can help us cheat the "no Mega Card" and "no Giga Card" rules? I'd rather say the guys at the company are pretty paranoid…_

Number 8 only made a smug smile and then softly closed the door: Nick shrugged and unlocked his: he then closed it up from the inside.

"He's starting to make me feel nervous. The last thing I needed. I still haven't figured out these memory blanks. Guess I've been through something bad ever since _that night_ and I've been sealing my memories out of pure instinct. The funny part is that I don't even know _how_ I go to TK City. I woke up one day and I just happened to figure out I had a Hunter – VG, my own Wizard, and was gonna take part in the tournament. And I know Japanese, too. Not pro level but enough to understand and be able to reply… My life has turned crazy." He muttered.

He sat down on the armchair next to one of the windows: some clouds had hidden the moon and the glow from it had dimmed.

"Whatever. I can go see a medic once this is over. Let's focus on the strategy already. And I wonder why I programmed Wotan to be silent: I'd now like to share my thoughts with him…"

21:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah. I won so easily~!"

"I wouldn't call that "easily", Rock."

"Yeah, Subari~?"

"Yeah. I'm concerned about something else."

"Ya wanna invite that Nick guy to your bed tonight?"

"NO!"

"Mwah, hah, hah…"

"Hello? Boss?"

"Subaru?"

"Yikes! Wrong number, dude! Call Aunt Regula!"

"This was a warning. The second one. Third one, I call for real."

"Che."

War Rock had been bragging inside of Subaru's room and ended with his patience: Subaru dialed a number on the Hunter – VG but War Rock gasped and cut the call: Subaru then directed a serious glare at him to prove he was being serious before sitting down on the armchair and look out into the night.

"Anyway. What I'm wondering about is… Contestant Number 8… Who is it? I haven't seen a hair outta the person ever since we got onboard: and that's what's picking me."

"That's funny… I'd forgotten there was an 8th contestant to begin with, even…" War Rock admitted.

"I guess we'll eventually see it when the person is selected to take part in one of the upcoming three battles." Subaru shrugged.

"Guess so. And don't forget to clean your teeth tonight with your beloved mint toothpaste~!"

"While it's true that I use mint toothpaste, I don't see anything "beloved" on that thing." Subaru drily replied.

"Ask Misora." War Rock challenged.

"Why should I?" Subaru questioned.

"She'll pull your ears." He chuckled.

"Why should she?"

"'Cause ya don't wanna let her have a "thrill" with Queen Tia…"

"It's not me. She doesn't want Queen Tia to come closer." Subaru corrected with a hint of annoyance.

"Oh yeah? I thought it was the over-protective boyfriend stuff." He looked slightly surprised.

"Wrong. Next topic." Subaru shoved it away.

"Wizard Man is gonna place a curse on us!"

"How scary." He didn't find it funny.

"The freakish speaking monster of the desert planet is gonna place a curse on us!" War Rock laughed.

"Huh? Wait, wait. What was that thing's name again…? Ah. Nebula Grey, if I recall… I doubt it. We deleted that thing time ago."

"Well! Gino Il Napolitano~ is gonna become the Godfather of the Napoli Mafia~, see~!" War Rock laughed.

"By all the… Just because he's named "Gino" that doesn't change that he's a Japanese citizen!"

"Then the Mafia – Yakuza joint venture~!"

"By all the… Go tackle Ox and grapple in a _sumo_ match!" Subaru improved out of the blue.

"Yessir! Once this is over, then… The Wizard Sumo Tournament will be founded! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

21:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Attention to all contestants: please head into the main room to decide the next battle." The referee announced over the P.A. system.

The seven contestants got there together but Number 8 was already there: he'd picked the same hard-to-spot place and looking towards the bingo machine: six balls remained.

"We're going to decide the contestants for the next battle of the Round of 8! Bing Machine: Start!"

The six balls jumped inside of the machine and bounced against each other: the one marked with the number 4 came out first.

"Contestant Number 4: Hibiki Misora VS…" The referee made the necessary pause.

The other five spheres kept on clashing and, a few seconds later, the one with the number 6 came out next.

"… Contestant Number 6: Futaba Tsukasa!" The referee finished.

"W-whoa! I'm going to face Misora – chan? Cool!" Tsukasa whistled in surprise.

"Ye got caught into her spell, dude…" War Rock suddenly popped out slightly above his right shoulder and leaned towards his right ear to whisper this.

Tsukasa blushed a lot and looked at the ceiling: he was seemingly having taken aback by War Rock's teasing move.

"War Rock! Stop with that campaign of yours!" Subaru complained.

"Mwah, hah, hah."

The group climbed upwards into the stage and both Misora and Tsukasa got into position.

"All ready!" Both announced.

"Good! Go! Battle Start!"


	4. Chapter 4: High voltage

**Chapter 4: High-voltage**

21:30 PM (Japan Time), Thursday June the 29th…

"… Ladies go first! Black Ink!" Misora announced.

Harp threw the Black Ink into the Field: she filled the whole of it with a blackish smoke which made maneuvering difficult.

"Tornado Dance!"

Her attack caught Storm off-guard and she managed to score three or four hits before Storm backed off.

"Stealth Laser 3!" Tsukasa announced.

A miniature stealth jet appeared and shot some laser shots which hit Harp but she shrugged them off.

"Ice Spinning 3!" Misora announced.

The dancing penguin appeared on the Field and hit Storm hard, since it was a Breaking-Elemental attack as well.

"Mummy Hand 3! Wide Sword!"

The mummy's hand caught Harp off-guard and electrocuted her: she shrugged it off again and focused on dodging the Wide Sword which Storm tried to chain into the combo.

"Heat Upper 3!" Misora announced.

Harp's attack again inflicted more damage thanks to the fact it also was a Breaking-Elemental attack.

"… It'd seem that Misora – chan is using a Breaking Folder…" Subaru commented to Akatsuki.

"Huh! Now I'm glad I didn't have to face her, then… She'd pulverized me…" Utagai grimly muttered.

"Shake it off, man!" Akatsuki tried to fuel him up.

"… Flash Spear 3!" Tsukasa announced.

"Super Barrier!" Misora counter-announced.

The Super Barrier managed to nullify all of the damage Storm was going to inflict to Harp, but since it was a 5-hit-consecutive-attack, it broke through the limit of the Super Barrier's attack.

"I'm going to make things harder. Paralyze Stage!" Tsukasa announced.

"Wow. A Paralyze Stage… That's some _via crucis_." Nick whistled in surprise and looked surprised.

"It's a living Hell which Queen Tia came up with." Akatsuki grinned.

"Shidou…" Acid grumbled.

"… By the way, Nick – kun… Eh… Maybe it's a bad time to ask, but are you a foreigner? I pick a slight accent to your voice…"

"Huh? Ah. Yeah. South-eastern Asia, a small town… Eh… Yeah. Ondedo is the current name but it was named Noshibi in the past. But I guess the name got derived from the Sanctuary…"

"Sanctuary?" Akatsuki looked interested.

"Yeah. It's said that it was already there when our people decided to settle there, the remains of a tribe which had lived there… A tribe surrounded by mystery and enigma… They left an artifact in the Sanctuary which looks like a cross with a circle on the middle yet the arms of the cross are shaped like knives… It sometimes glows green in the night… It had a name but I've forgotten it… I've got a photo…" He explained.

He took out the Hunter – VG and accessed a menu: he then displayed a photo of what seemed to be a stone _shuriken_ set on a pedestal somewhere.

"A _shuriken_… Made of stone… Glows green at night… Ancient tribe, mysterious… Wait, wait. I've heard that somewhere before." Subaru frowned.

"Uncle Sam's cousins! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Oh come on. Shut up."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Laugh and grow fat!"

"Tell that to Gonta."

"Well… Speaking of _shuriken_, _ninja_ use them…" Akatsuki ventured.

"Ninja! That's it! _Shinobi_! That's gotta be the _Shinobi_ OOPArt! One of the three OOPArts…! No wonder it glows at night… It can absorb environmental EM…!" Subaru gasped.

"_Ninja_? Those enigmatic assassins?"

"Yeah. Speaking of ninjas… Can you recognize this guy? I believe he belongs to your town, even."

Subaru took out his own Hunter – VG and displayed a photo of a guy about their age having the same teal skin as Nick yet his hair flied upwards and backwards in a crazy punk-like manner, his eyes were injected and a vein had popped in the right side of the forehead plus a golden-colored "eye" silhouette was drawn on the middle of his forehead: he looked annoyed in the photo.

"… No. I'd remember a freak like that. Who's that?"

"Shinobi. The Alphabet Murderer."

"Alphabet Murderer? Never heard of that."

"Is that so? He was pretty active in the period October – December of the last year… He killed 26 foreign agents in a row…"

"26! Yikes! Well. Sorry, but I'd never heard of a guy taking up the name of the artifact… And we were like 5,000 inhabitants so…"

"Alright. Sorry to have bothered you… Let's check how the battle is progressing…" Subaru switched topics.

"O. K."

"… Sorry to disappoint you, Tsukasa – kun! But I came prepared! Get ready!"

"Huh? Ah! It couldn't be…!"

"Panel Format! Holy Panel! Rolling Nuts 3!" Misora announced her new combo.

All of the panels reverted to normal, a Holy Panel formed, and some nuts rolled across the panels: they ended up exploding and inflicting damage to Storm because they were Wood-Elemental.

"Tsukasa! Are you holding back or what?" Storm grumbled.

"I'm not! Eh… Inazuma Head 3! Attack + 10!" Tsukasa replied before he announced his next move.

An Inadoran Virus appeared and began to bombard the panels with lighting in a 3X3 formation: Harp got hit thrice in a row and she was left rather exhausted and with burnt marks.

"Recovery 300! Recovery 100! Powder Shot 3!" Misora announced her next combo.

Harp regained a big deal of lost HP and then scattered powder around Storm's side of the Field, thus inflicting double damage and paralyzing him for a few seconds.

"Recovery 300! Recovery 200!"

"Dummy Spider 3!"

A spider Virus descended from the ceiling and shot several webs at Storm, inflicting elemental damage to him.

"Recovery 200! Mummy Hand 3! Mahi Plus! Heavy Cannon!"

Storm used the Mummy Hand to attack and paralyze Harp before he shot a blast from his Heavy Cannon to hit Harp: she grimaced but kept on looking in top shape.

_Speaking of ninja and after seeing that photo… I now seem to remember there was something weird with my luggage. I gotta check it before the next match…_

Nick looked thoughtful while Number 8 was rubbing his chin with the right hand's fingers as if having been picked by the earlier conversation.

"Flash Spear 3!"

"Shuri Shuriken 3!"

Harp's attack was faster than Storm's, so he got hit by a Wood-Elemental attack and suffered elemental damage so he hissed something under his breath and managed to attack Harp with his combo of spear attacks before both combatants backed off again.

"This is turning more and more intense… Frightening, even… Scary, even..!" Utagai grimly muttered.

"Oh. Just watch and stay silent." Cygnus grumbled.

"If y-you say so…" Utagai kept on looking very nervous.

"Che. Why couldn't someone else take his place?" Cygnus wondered after grumbling.

"'Cause they were a bunch of show-offs, that's why." War Rock laughed.

"Look who is talking." Cygnus shot back.

"Guys… Don't start another quarrel…" Subaru rolled his eyes.

"So? Does your girlfriend look horny tonight?" War Rock teased by leaning on Subaru's left shoulder and whispering into his left ear.

"Quit it already!" Subaru scolded him in a hushed tone.

Number 8 was now looking towards Subaru and War Rock and kept on having a smug smile on his face while rubbing his hands and looking somewhat eager.

_There he goes again… Is he hoping to get into the next match and qualify for the Best 4 to battle Subaru – kun?_

Nick glanced for a split second towards Subaru and War Rock and then focused on Number 8 again: his slight change of behavior had surprised him.

"… Storm! Use your Special Ability: High Voltage! Add a 25% power bonus to all Electric – Elemental Attacks!" Tsukasa instructed.

"Roger, Admiral." Storm chuckled at his own joke.

"Admiral…?" Tsukasa looked baffled.

"It'd seem we're trekking into the road of a conclusion! Harp: use your Special Ability, too! Her Special Ability is named Roulette!" Misora instructed.

"Roulette…?" Subaru wondered.

"Heh, heh! If it strikes on the right slot, then ye and Misora will be confirmed as a couple!" War Rock kept on hushing into Subaru's left ear and never stopping to sound amused.

"Roulette lets me select 4 Battle Cards in my Folder from the following Elements: Fire, Wood, Electric and Water. The chosen Battle Card gets a 75% power bonus. It then shuffles them and picks one. This is why it's called roulette." Misora explained.

"Whoa!" Both Tsukasa and Storm gasped.

"That guy might be the competency!" War Rock was telling Subaru in the meanwhile.

"How do I have to say it…? Rock. You're fired." Subaru sounded exasperated at first and then sentenced the whole thing with two words.

"Heh, heh! I'm gonna go see Bert Saxby, then!" War Rock chuckled.

"My chosen Battle Card is Inazuma Head 3! With the 25% power boost, it gains 57 points, thus having a total 287 points!" Tsukasa announced.

"… Mine is Rolling Nuts 3! And it gains a 75% power boost: 105 points, thus adding to 245 points!" Misora announced.

Each Wizard shot to each other their respective attacks and there was a great display of lighting and explosions which impeded one to clearly see what was going on in the Field.

"Whoa!"

"Wha!"

When it cleared, Storm was out cold while Harp was at her limit of strength, but still standing: the referee checked their HP counters.

"Storm is at 2 HP: he's below the official limit of 10 HP. Harp is at 15 HP, so she passes. The winner of the 2nd Battle in the Round of 8 is Contestant Number 4: Hibiki Misora!" The referee announced.

Both combatants stepped down from the stage and shook hands.

"You did a very good job, Tsukasa – kun." Misora told her.

"Thank you, Misora – chan. Good luck." Tsukasa replied.

"Pst! Tsukasa!"

War Rock suddenly popped out above his right shoulder and whispered something into Tsukasa's ear: he turned deep red and looked at the ground while War Rock grinned and dashed back at Subaru's side, who looked annoyed.

"What now?"

"She's gonna recommend him to undergo Queen Tia's training! Mwah, hah, hah."

"No way. He'd end up traumatized. It was bad enough that he was abducted two years ago and they couldn't rescue him until last October, you know what happened to his legs after that." Subaru scolded.

"The 3rd Battle's Contestants will be announced in half an hour!" The referee reminded everyone.

Number 8 slipped away in total silence, but not before Subaru caught sight of him for a split second: he narrowed his eyes and looked serious.

"… That has to be the 8th Contestant." He muttered.

"What a crazy dude! Carnival was way back in February!" War Rock laughed.

"Whatever."

"Whatever the ever!"

21:45 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Key, key… Huh? Oh crap. There he goes again! Hey, you! Stop stalking me like a leech! Show your hide!"

"Hmpf."

CLAC!

"I'm tired with this suspense. I wish his turn comes soon and he's forced to unmask and kill this suspense."

Nick had been rummaging his jeans' pockets before spotting Number 8 glancing at him: he turned around to face him and challenged him but he merely closed the door: Nick growled.

"Let's get in already!"

He unlocked the door and stepped inside: he headed straight for his sports bag and opened it: he immediately gasped as he picked a detailed _katana_ sheath with a leather band from inside of it.

"_Ninja_ sword? What the hell?"

He took it out of the sheath and slowly checked it: the thing was shining from its clean state and Nick grabbed it by the handle: he spotted an empty cardboard box and tried to slice it: one slice was enough to neatly cut in half.

"This thing's real! Huh? What are those clothes?"

He took out a pair of black wool pants, sandals, a wool sweater and a balaclava the rear part of which was partly open.

"_Ninja_ clothes!" He gasped.

He then picked a small round plastic pot with a label which read "golden fluorescent paint: washable by water" on it: he opened it and checked that it had been used more than once.

"What the heck is wrong with me? Memory blanks, a Hunter – VG and a Wizard which came out of no-where, _ninja_ stuff…!"

"Attention, please! We're going to announce the next round's contestants so gather in the hall!"

"Gotta talk it with Subaru – kun NOW while I have the chance…! I could be the next one to battle, even…!" He muttered.

He packaged all of the stuff and spotted something else: one utility belt, hair fastener and a comb plus a portable mirror on the bottom of the sports bag plus two pairs of boxers and socks.

"Something's wrong here. Very wrong!" He grimly muttered.

He quickly came out of his room just as Subaru and the others came out of theirs.

"Subaru – kun! I have something VERY important to tell you… I think it's highly connected to our earlier conversation!"

"Huh? You mean about Shinobi?"

"Say! Did that man wear _ninja_ clothing?"

"Sure thing."

"There was _ninja_ clothing in my bag plus a real sword!"

"E~H? A real _katana_?" Subaru gasped.

"Once this match is over, please come over and let's check it out together… I have a bad feeling about the whole thing!"

"Was there something else?" Akatsuki asked.

"Utility belt, golden fluorescent painting, hair fastener, portable mirror, spare clothes… It'd look like we met somewhere and by accident ended up swapping our bags…! If only I didn't have these memory blanks…!"

"Memory blanks…!" Tsukasa gasped.

"I'll explain after the match. I've just met you tonight but I feel something special about you guys."

"Count on us! We want to help others in trouble!"

The group stepped into the main hall: Number 8 had picked his usual spot and was silently looking towards the graph displaying the four brackets of two slots each: the name of the winner was brightened and the loser was dimmed: the remaining brackets had interrogations signs drawn into each of the slots.

"Alright! We'll announce the contestants to battle in the 3rd battle of the Round of 8! Start!"

The bingo machine started up yet everyone (save Number 8) seemed to be far more worried about what Nick had said.

"Contestant Number 7: Utagai Shinsuke VS…" The referee made the mandatory pause.

The second ball came out soon enough.

"… Contestant Number 1: Shinnai Nick!" The referee concluded.

"Hum. My turn, then… We'll talk about the details later. Utagai – san! Let's both do our best, sir!"

"Eh… O-of course…" Utagai nervously muttered.

"Calm down. Breathe deeply. Focus." Cygnus instructed.

"What… Ya turned into a yoga master, Cygnus?"

"That's not related to you so flee, foul one."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Yoga Cygnus! Mwah, hah, hah!"

Subaru grumbled and tried to ignore his jokes as they climbed out into the stage: Number 8 got into his isolated spot and then looked towards the stage: Tsukasa seemed to be thinking of something given his serious face and the others looked nervous.

"Combatants: ready Folders! Wizards: materialize! On the count of my clock!" The referee commanded.

"All ready!"

"5, 4, 3, 2, 1…!"


	5. Chapter 5: True colors

**Chapter 5: True colors**

21:50 PM (Japan Time), Thursday June the 29th…

"… Go! Battle Start!"

"… Double Eater! Giga Mine!" Nick announced.

"Uh-oh." Utagai gulped.

Cygnus tried to be careful of where he stepped at so as to not to trigger the hidden and concealed Giga Mine but Wotan was not going to make it easy.

"Mad Vulcan 3!"

The machinegun bursts, concentrated in one per row, forced Cygnus to shift positions and he ended up triggering the Giga Mine, making him be sent flying.

"Huh… Heel Wizard 3!" Utagai improvised.

The electrical whip hit Wotan and electrocuted him, but he didn't react at all.

"You're not going to tell me that he's invincible!" Utagai gasped.

"Of course not! He's the diehard type." Cygnus tried to reassure him with a sigh.

"Bubble Hook 3! Shark Cutter 3!" Nick announced.

"I'm doomed!" Utagai gasped.

Wotan shot several bubbles towards Cygnus and he got trapped inside of one only to be hit by the extremely fast Shark Cutter 3 immediately afterwards: he groaned and managed to maneuver.

"Recovery 300!" Utagai announced.

"Wide Wave 3!" Nick announced next.

The water attack spanned the whole width of the Field and hit Cygnus face-on thus leaving him soaked.

"Skull Arrow 3! Heavy Down 3!"

"Super Barrier!"

The two attacks did hit Cygnus, but, thanks to his Super Barrier, both were nullified and he received no damage at all.

"Smile Coin 3!"

Several coins began to rain down around Cygnus, and, since they were continuous attacks, they managed to break through his Super Barrier.

"Ah! He broke through the Super Barrier, even…! What do we do, Cygnus?" Utagai looked horrified.

"Calm down and give me the first thing you find!" Cygnus shouted back.

"Uh… Ground Wave 3!" Utagai announced.

The quick attack caught Wotan off-guard, triggering a Counter Hit and giving Utagai a random Battle Card.

"Huh… Windy Attack 3!"

The attack connected and Wotan received a certain dose of damage, but he kept on not showing it.

"Wotan has been in many battles. He's not the type to get intimidated by anything." Nick announced with a smile.

Being concentrated on the Battle, he didn't spot Number 8 looking with attention at the stage and seemingly analyzing Nick's battle pattern or to remember it as a reference: he looked serious now yet Subaru had also spotted looking at the battle for a moment and was looking at Number 8 with a look of suspicion on his face.

"Something about the guy gives me a vibe, too. He's no grunt."

"He's in the same category as Ernst Starvo Blofeld, then."

"Chut. Quit it." Subaru told him in a hushed tone.

"Yeah, Skipper." War Rock kept on laughing.

"Count Bomb 3!" Nick announced.

"Ah! Eh… Aura!" Utagai gasped and selected the first Battle Card he found on his screen.

The Aura protected Cygnus from the damage the Count Bomb was going to inflict.

"Machine Flame 3!"

"Ah! I don't have anything good at all! Long Sword!" Utagai uttered.

Cygnus managed to dodge the attack and counterattacked with the Long Sword he had and made a shallow cut to Wotan's body: he kept on saying nothing and on looking unimpressed.

"Anger Fire 3!" Nick announced.

This time, the attack did hit Cygnus and he hissed.

"Recovery…!" Utagai began.

"Wait a min! This is where Wotan's Special Ability takes place: Seal of Poison!" Nick announced.

"Wha~t!" Utagai yelled in pure terror like he was going to be slaughtered alive.

"By this Special Ability, you will suffer the same amount of damage a Recovery Battle Card would normally recover, and you will get "Poison" status ailment… It's my terrific secret weapon, Utagai – san." Nick announced with eagerness.

"Shit!" Cygnus uttered.

"The outcome is obvious now, ain't it?" Shidou commented.

"Poor Utagai – san! He stood no chance." Subaru sounded resigned.

"We better think of something to deal with that ability when we come to the semi-finals." Misora suggested.

"We're glad that we didn't get to fight." Kiboyama and Tsukasa muttered.

"You look like twins." War Rock teased.

Both of them narrowed their eyes and looked with annoyed faces at War Rock, who kept on grinning.

"Thus… The Recovery 300 you were going to use inflicts 300 points of damage and another 25 due to the poison!" Nick finished his explanation of Wotan's Special Ability.

Before Cygnus could even move, his HP dropped to 1 in the blink of an eye and he fell into the ground, exhausted.

"The winner of the 3rd Battle of the Round of 8 is Contestant Number 1: Shinnai Nick!" The referee announced.

"So! It's me versus Mr. Anonymous. It's going to be intriguing." Akatsuki grinned and looked very sure of his own skills.

"Shidou…" Acid grumbled.

Utagai stepped down from the stage and looked totally depressed.

"I knew it… The bad spirits have chased me all the way up here… I'm going to call Amachi – san… I'm going to get scolded, I know it…" He grimly muttered.

Before anyone could protest, he dragged his feet away and everyone sighed in defeat.

"Thus, the 4th and final Battle of the Round of 8 will involve Contestant Number 2: Akatsuki Shidou and Contestant Number 8! Take a 30 – min break and then come back." The referee announced.

"Alright! I won. Let's go check the stuff… _No need to. I'm gonna need that_… Huh?" Nick began saying only to stop.

"Your voice suddenly changed mid-way!" Misora gasped.

"Say! You admitted having memory blanks… Are they big?" Tsukasa asked.

"Big…? Well… Pretty much, yeah… I even dunno how I got to Japan, when I decided to join this tournament and how I got my Wizard…"

"… Don't go into details, but… Have you gone through something traumatic and which was a shock for your mindset?"

"I have, yeah, but… _It was what gave birth to me, ya know_… Who was that?" Nick stopped and looked around.

"You changed voice mid-way again!" Tsukasa looked like he was catching up into something.

"… _No wonder, Futaba! We're equals…_" His voice now sounded manlier and had an amused tune to it.

"No way! That voice…!" Subaru gasped.

"… Huh? Huh… Huh? All looks blurry… My head's aching…! I can't concentrate…! Sleepy…! Wanna sleep… Wanna… sleep…" Nick sounded and looked sleepy.

He suddenly closed his eyes and fell into the ground only to immediately begin rising in a slow manner: he formed a grin and when he opened his eyes they had become injected and psychotic.

"… _Been a while_~…" He laughed.

"Damn! I knew it!" Tsukasa cursed.

"_Heh, heh, heh. Then tell that to the public out there who's slow in catching up, Futaba~_…"

"You're - Shinobi! Nick – kun's… _split personality_! Hikaru's equal! That explains it all!" Tsukasa signaled him with his right hand's index finger and looking angered.

"Damn it!" Subaru cursed.

"The punk's back!" Misora cursed next.

"Bloody hell!" Akatsuki uttered.

"The Alphabet Murderer!" Kiboyama gasped.

"… _Yessir… That's me… Shinobi! Number one disciple to the great and supreme Hyde – sama…_!"

Number 8 formed a smug smile and now looked like he'd understood what had happened.

"Then…! The clothes are yours, after all! The pain is to draw that eye symbol thing… The sword is yours… And the hair fastener plus portable mirror are to redo your hairstyle!" Subaru deduced.

"… _Mwah, hah, hah… Yessir… Correct… This is part of Hyde – sama's newest drama… Mwah, hah, hah… I let main personality – sama~ get back into the front row for the first time once all of the preparations were completed… He was useful as a distraction to hide my involvement… But it'd seem I've been somewhat neglecting… The guy spotted the stuff and the total surprise has been killed off yet… No big deal… Mwah, hah, hah…"_

"What's your goal?" Akatsuki demanded.

"… _Ain't that obvious, Akatsuki~? To win this tournament and fill those foolish humans out there with terror and fear… Now that I've made it to the Best 4 there's no need for disguising…_"

"So this is Hyde's newest idea, then!"

"… _Obviously… And I'd slice all of your throats was I allowed to be yet Hyde – sama wants this tournament to end in a natural manner and wants me to follow the rules… No big deal for me… Mwah, hah, hah… But maybe one day I'll toss you into a living _Naraku_ like Futaba over there… Mwah, hah, hah…_"

"You don't mean that…!" Subaru hissed.

"… _Nah… That was unrelated… Hyde – sama was busy training me by then… I was pretty rookie by then… I'd only joined Him a little before his debut in TK City… Ya know… The "Ghost Crisis" thing…"_

"And now I'm starting to see the point of it: he knew from the start that Solo would eventually ditch them once he'd solved the enigma of what had happened to his tribe's continent so you wanted someone else to take his place and began training you in secret… I'm sure that not even Dr. Orihime was knowledgeable of that…" Subaru realized as he made a grimace.

"… _Bravo, bravo…_" He chuckled.

"Che. And now we get to share the ship with this punk…!"

"… _Heh, heh, heh… Whatever the ever… My orders are to remain still in my room in the time between each battle… Mine's over and there's one left so I'll go set myself up before comin' back 'ere to see who that black-clad man is… Surely a company agent to spice things up…"_

Chuckling, he walked off the stage while the other five cursed under their breaths and Number 8 formed a smug smile.

"… We gotta contact Vadous. This is getting outta control." Akatsuki told them.

"But it's not like we're gonna cancel the tournament just because he's onboard, right? Then Hyde would win."

"No! I just want to have Blood Shadow or Sigma in standby and ready to come assist us as night-watchers…"

"Good idea, Akatsuki – san, sir…"

"Hikaru's equal…! And from the hint… Nick – kun suffered something similar to me yet he couldn't endure it so he broke down and ended up inadvertently creating "Shinobi"… I'm sure Hyde gave him the name and the OOPArt!" Tsukasa grimly muttered.

"Don't worry, Tsukasa – kun! If we can, we'll take profit that we outnumber him four to one to capture him and find a method to seal up his personality like we planned to do with Hikaru before he "left" from your brain…!" Subaru tried to cheer him up.

"T-thank you, Subaru – kun…"

"I should've realized it, too. After all, I was parasite-minded by Kuroban Howsad for a while and I have memory blanks which you've helped fill in an approximate manner, yet…" Kiboyama sighed.

"The memory blanks club! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Shut the beak up!"

22:02 PM (Japan Time)…

"… _Mwah, hah, hah_… _Huh? Che. That guy again… Oi! Ya! If ya have the guts then… Come outta the nest and face me!"_

"Hmpf."

CLAC!

"… _Sheesh! Che! What a bothersome meddling guy! Assassin! Replace this guy for you and come out…"_

Shinobi had spotted Number 8 when he was about to enter his room and tried to challenge him only for the guy to lock himself inside of the room: he scoffed and stepped into his own room.

"… _Kuuzen akaatos yuu…_" A voice rang out.

Wotan vanished and was replaced by another Wizard: he was reminiscent of a typical ghost, having a white body with no legs and a hood with a Halloween-like face carved on it emerged: its "eyes" shone with reddish light.

"… _What? Ya wanna suck up that guy's blood? Mwah, hah, hah. Oh, I'd love that but orders are orders… Ninja swear absolute obedience to their Lord and live on protecting that oath… My point: no blood tonight either! Ya should have had enough the last month with 11 agents in the Middle East…"_

"… _Tatee izee uuoo…_"

"… _What? That guy reeks? Define "reeks"…!"_

"… _Zuzu yajoou itenna!_"

"… _Familiar scent, you say… The very smell makes your rage be stirred up and you wanna rip that apart… The only thing I can think of which would stir ya so much is… Of course… Heh, heh, heh. So that's how it is. Ain't that interesting?"_ He laughed.

He kept on laughing as he opened the bag and began to take the stuff out: a broad grin spread across his face…

22:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Damn it all. So Hyde's punk is there?"

"Yeah. And we've found out where he came from plus this fact about him being the split personality of an honest person… Hikaru's equal… But worse than Hikaru, obviously, Master."

"Che. The last thing we needed, really…"

"Yeah… The guy robbed my mood, even…"

"You don't rob someone's "mood", Rock…"

"Whatever the ever. And Utagai chickened out so he's locked into the room: he brought those cheap things…"

"Prayer beads, you mean to say… No wonder. Utagai – san is somewhat clumsy and he tends to believe in the supernatural despite Cygnus' attempts to relieve him."

Subaru was speaking with Dr. Lartes over the Hunter –VG while War Rock floated nearby while looking somewhat resigned, for once: Subaru looked over his right shoulder and seemed skeptical at his ironic comment.

"Anyway… The Satella Police have warned the crew of the ship to stay away from that guy's room. Hyde won't want something to force the tournament to halt but you can't be sure with a guy like that. He'll most likely play fair but we can't be sure of what kind of "Special Ability" he programmed into "Assassin"… And the masked man thing is starting to pick me too: the company admitted that they didn't send him so he must be acting on his own. Yet the height doesn't match Hyde and he wouldn't attempt to be so discreet to the point that almost no – one realized that he'd come onboard." Dr. Lartes listed.

"But I'm sure he'll be forced to at least give out a name… And if only we could hear his voice maybe we can then use that to ID him… He's gotta be good to have it to the 8 finalists."

"Yeah. No doubt… That guy has a "Lucky Charm" which is a horse's decayed tooth! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Oh come on! Shut up."

"You heard him, War Rock."

"Ahem! Attention please. The 4th match is about to begin in 10 minutes' time. Given how it is the last one and the contestants have been decided already then there's no need to go through the bingo machine process thus head straight for the stage." The staff announced.

"We gotta get moving, it'd seem…"

"I'm sending Blood and Sigma there. They'll be keeping an eye on both Shinobi and the masked contestant."

"Mr. Universe!"

"Yeah, yeah. Go pick sandalwood out there." Subaru skeptically shot back at him as if to shake him off.

"Wood in the sandal? Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"Sandalwood! And don't make me repeat things!"

"Invent sandal-ice!" War Rock suggested out of the blue.

"Sandal-ice… Please… How ridiculous!"

"How brilliant! Misora is gonna train ya guys into the forbidden arts so that ya level up!" War Rock's grin grew wider.

"Misora – chan ain't that type of person: go tell Ox that you got into the Best 4!" Subaru growled.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Sure thing, Subari~! Good luck with the punk: he wants to have a _sumo_ brawl with ya~!"

"_Sumo _brawl… No way…" Subaru groaned.

"Later, Subari~! Enjoy~! Mwah, hah, hah."

Both Subaru and Dr. Lartes fumed at his wild behavior.

_That guy…! Ah! Whatever! Priority Number One is cheering for Akatsuki – san…! And unmask Contestant Number 8…!_


	6. Chapter 6: The 8th Contestant

**Chapter 6: The 8****th**** Contestant**

22:15 PM (Japan Time), Thursday June the 29th…

"… There's Mr. Masked Man."

"Shidou…"

"What… It's a fact!"

"He seems to be focused on Shinobi alone."

"Oho. Intriguing."

Akatsuki was standing in the fighting stage and facing Number 8 yet he seemed to ignore Akatsuki and glare at Shinobi: he'd put on all those _ninja_ clothes and made his hair into the photo's style: spiky and messy.

He'd also put on the utility belt and carried the _katana_ sheath attached to his back through a leather band.

Assassin was floating next to him while Shinobi seemed to be amused by Number 8's behavior given the look on his eyes.

"… Heh, heh, heh…"

"We've come, Akatsuki – san!"

"Good!"

Subaru and the others (save Utagai) came into the spectators' spot and got into position to look: the referee climbed into the stage and stopped into the center to look at his wrist-watch: he lifted the left arm.

"The 4th Battle of the Round of 8! Contestant Number 2: Akatsuki Shidou VS Contestant Number8… Huh?" The referee began announcing only to stop and look at Number 8.

"It'd seem he's just realized he's been here the whole time, too." Subaru muttered with a hint of sarcasm.

"Do excuse me, sir, but... We can't proceed if you don't at least tell us your name." The referee told Number 8.

The guy shrugged, tugged his cloak and tossed it out along with his black cap and sunglasses: everyone gasped given how the mysterious contestant was _Solo_ in person.

"So-Solo! Why the heck is this guy here?" Subaru uttered.

"Yo." He grinned.

"Mwah, hah, hah. As ya said, Assassin… The guy reeked… And sure did! Being the repulsive jerk he is…" Shinobi laughed.

"… You're chasing the punk?" Akatsuki guessed.

"Yeah. Ran away in the midst of a quarrel back in May… Been chasing the jerk ever since that…"

"Ran away, huh?" Akatsuki directed a smug smile at Shinobi.

"My Lord ordered that. I had no other choice."

"Hmpf. You lowlife's lord is but a weakling who I can easily blow away in one hit… And I'd done that with you lowlife too but I wasn't being serious which I now regret…" He scoffed.

"Whatever… Come!"

"Nope. I'm gonna play by the rules. Akatsuki is my opponent. And when I get my turn, then I'll make raw dust outta you lowlife."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… I'll be lookin' forward to that, yeah…"

"Ahem, ahem! Contestant Number 8: Solo! Battle Start!"

"Come! Laplace!" Solo summoned.

Laplace immediately showed up into the Field and looked at Acid with its yellow emotionless eyes.

"My Folder has been improved. I'll show you its potential." Solo put up his smug smile.

"… Something tells me you've put "Secret" Class Standard Battle Cards there." Akatsuki exposed.

"Heh. Right thing. So? Are you gonna chicken out?" Solo grinned.

"Nope. Let's get this show in the road. And I'm not a chicken. I fight to the end." Akatsuki shrugged.

"Mu Technology X!"

A cube with Mu glyphs appeared on the Field and shot several shots of energy at Acid, who quickly maneuvered to evade.

"Edogiri Blade 3!" Shidou announced.

"Edogiri Blade X!" Solo counter-announced.

Laplace's blade, being obviously stronger, inflicted higher damage to Acid, who hissed.

"Mad Vulcan 3!"

"Giant Axe!"

Laplace was hit by the machinegun shots and then rushed towards Acid while swinging the Giant Axe.

"Super Barrier!"

The Super Barrier nullified the attack Laplace was going to inflict, so he floated back to his original position.

"Sword Fighter X!"

The five consecutive attacks cut through the Super Barrier and Acid recoiled although he hadn't suffered any damage at all.

"Let's go, Acid! Paralyze Stage! Giza Wheel 3! Heavy Down 3!" Akatsuki announced a combo.

Thanks to the effect of the Paralyze Stage, when the Giza Wheel hit Laplace, he was paralyzed and the gigantic stone block dropped on top of him.

"That should've inflicted heavy damage." Akatsuki grinned.

"Wonder 'bout that…"

Five sword attacks which came out of nowhere suddenly hit Acid and then the assaulter was revealed to be Laplace.

"What? But I'm sure he got crushed by the Heavy Down!" Akatsuki was taken aback.

"I had to waste Laplace's "Special Ability": Clone. He can create a copy with half of his original HP and then use an Invisibility Effect. In short: you just wasted your combo." Solo grinned as he explained this.

"Whoa. Solo came up with a terrific "Special Ability"… You cannot be sure if you're attacking with all your might the original one or a copy…" Subaru whistled in surprise.

"Crap! Recovery 100!" Shidou hissed.

"Double Eater! Zetsumetsu Meteor! Drill Arm X!" Solo announced a combo of his own with a grin.

The meteors bombarded Akatsuki's side of the Field and Acid had a lot of trouble to try to dodge or maneuver in the limited space: Laplace suddenly hit him with the Drill Arm X and he roared in agony.

"Recovery 300!" Akatsuki announced.

"Death Scythe X!" Solo announced.

Again, taking profit of the limited space, the Death Scythe was able to land several hits into Acid.

"He's forcing me to waste my Recovery Battle Cards and not giving me a chance to counterattack… He's gotten tougher." Akatsuki grimly muttered as he realized Solo's devastating strategy.

"Daba Flame X!"

"Recovery 200!"

The doll of fire did hit Acid but not before he had the chance to heal and regain some energy.

"Burn! Flame Axe!" Akatsuki announced.

The attack did hit Laplace and he backed off while muttering something in his Mu idiom.

"Da… Ru…"

"Hmmm… Bobobon Bomb X!" Solo decided.

A bomb appeared on the Field and it exploded, triggering several chain explosions which wiped out most of the Field and cracked all panels: Acid was having trouble standing.

"Recovery 300!" Akatsuki announced.

"Thunder of Earth X!" Solo announced.

An electrical sphere appeared and began to make thunders fall down into the Field, making Acid dodge so as to not to be hit by them.

"Aura!"

"Dancing Blade X!" Solo exclaimed.

Laplace transformed into his blade form and quickly swept the Field in two diagonal directions, although he only managed to cut through the Aura and didn't cause any real damage per se.

"Long Sword!"

"Heel Wizard X! Mahi Plus! Vulcan Seed X!"

The two combined attacks proved deadly: Heel Wizard X paralyzed Acid and he was then bombarded with a rush of seeds which inflicted consecutive damage.

"Crap! Huh… I'll risk it! Heavy Cannon!"

"Heh. Kogarashi X!" Solo grinned.

The spiraling wind attack hit Acid six times in a row and, when it ended, he fell into the ground, having been left with just 6 HP.

"Oh crap."

"Heh. I win."

"The winner of the 4th Battle of the Round of 8 is Contestant Number 8: Solo! With this, the Round of 8 is complete! The semi-finals are to take place tomorrow on the 3rd Battleground! This ship is headed over there and we'll reach it tomorrow morning." The referee announced.

"Hence why we've been moving further and further from TK City instead of just circling around it…" Subaru realized.

"Please retire to your cabins and rest to be fresh for tomorrow. The ones who didn't pass will receive, nevertheless, a medal for having come this far. They may come as public to the semi-finals if they wish for." The referee kept on explaining.

"You didn't make a half-bad job, Akatsuki, but Hoshikawa would've found more holes to counterattack me." Solo told Akatsuki.

"Obviously." Akatsuki shrugged.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Sure thing…" War Rock laughed.

"What did you this time?" Subaru questioned.

"I told Gonta _iinchou_ had placed a curse on his fats and calories: he fainted and Ox laughed at it! Hah!" War Rock explained.

"Even Ox… What have I done to deserve this?"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Get in our way, maybe…" Shinobi taunted.

"Shaddup, neo punk freak." Misora snapped.

"The lawyer's apprentice came back, eh?"

"Lawyer's apprentice? That's my motto." Akatsuki countered.

"Whatever the ever."

"That's mine!"

"Don't care… I'm gonna go nap. Come anytime: I'll defeat you in a _sumo_ match!" He laughed.

"Lovely." Subaru cursed.

22:32 PM (Japan Time)…

"… WHA~T? That Shinobi man appeared onboard and Solo has also done so, you say! I knew it! I've brought disgraces with me! I'm such a walking catastrophe!"

"Calm down, Utagai – san!"

Akatsuki had come to talk with Utagai regarding what had just happened and Utagai was yet again freaking out and running or hiding around the room, to Akatsuki's total frustration.

"We're doomed! We're doomed! We're doomed!" Utagai kept on yelling like he was going to be slaughtered alive.

"Stop! Halt! Brake!" Akatsuki shouted.

"We're doomed! We're doomed! We're doomed!" Utagai seemingly didn't hear him.

BLAM!

Akatsuki actually went and banged the table with both punches to call for Utagai's attention: he gasped and stopped.

"… Rest. You need to rest. You'll see everything with a clearer light tomorrow." Akatsuki instructed.

"R-roger…" Utagai nervously nodded in agreement.

"Pray for a while and shake off the omens."

"Y-y-y-yes, sir…"

"See? No big deal, really…" Cygnus told him.

"M-m-m-maybe s-s-so…"

"This guy…" Cygnus sounded exasperated by now and he was mumbling something under his breath.

"Good evening."

"G-good e-evening…"

22:35 PM (Japan Time)…

"… We've placed a sensor which will warn your Hunter – VGs were the punk to come outta the room during the night…"

"Unless he wants to raze the kitchen… Mwah, hah, hah…"

"Sigma… This ain't something to joke about!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Ya were saying, Brad Shad?"

"Get serious!"

"Lovely."

"Mwah, hah, hah. Yo! Sigma! Let's make a duet!"

"BE SERIOUS ALREADY WILL YA!"

Subaru had been communicating with Blood Shadow and Sigma when Sigma began trolling and War Rock joined him: both yelled at them to try to stop them.

"Sigma! Be serious!" Dr. Lartes ordered in the background.

"Huh! Roger…"

"War Rock! We've discussed this a billion times already: stop trolling around 'cause this ain't the time for petty jokes!"

"Did ya say something, Dr. Who~?"

"BE SERIOUS I SAY!"

"Serious Man and Say Man will come over?" He joked.

"Master… Please fetch Boss. I'll handle with a replacement Wizard. Akatsuki – san can make an exception."

"Roger."

"Uwo~h! Halt, halt!"

"Then behave! I'm tired of your constant mimicries! Go sleep and leave us in peace, Rock!"

"Jeez. Alright, alright…"

"Finally!" Dr. Lartes sighed in relief.

"That guy…!" Blood Shadow grumbled.

"Maybe he picks on too much…" Sigma timidly muttered.

"Nope. He's still light-years away from Uncle Omega~!" Omega's voice rang out in the background.

"Omega. Not you too. Boss is gonna explode and you know it."

"I'm Know It All Man!"

"Jeez. Go fish." Dr. Lartes grumbled.

"Fisherman is back! I'm gonna fish the world's largest tuna and get into the _Guinness Book of World Records 2206_! Mwah, hah, hah! Along with Dragon Hell!" War Rock laughed.

"Dragon Hell… The Choina cook whose head is filled with "Confucius' teachings" and is always coming up with weird recipes… We should really do something about that, too." Dr. Lartes sighed.

"Yo! Rock! Wanna tag with me and let's go raze the razing razor? We'll make another world record!" Omega invited.

"My pleasure! Mwah, hah, hah! It's about to rain War Rock!"

"Yeah? You want some of those cheaply made copies "Dealer" came up with to steal you the spotlight?" Subaru taunted.

"No way!" War Rock gasped.

"And you, Omega… We need to talk about your behavior!" Dr. Lartes warned him.

"Sure thing! Catch me firstly~!"

"Grjtfx! I prefer having to stop a rampaging Shinobi to that guy. I really do!" Dr. Lartes sarcastically cursed.

"No good."

23:48 PM (Japan Time)…

"… All's ready, Ku."

"Perfect. Took time and effort yet all's ready… Sorry for the work overload but there's a limit to what I can do even with the automated support Wizards, Ka…"

"Bah. Don't mind it. We've had fun but that was the heating up. The real stuff takes place tomorrow!"

"They'll be trapped within a labyrinth sans escape…"

"…and they will lose all hope."

"Tee, heh, heh, heh, heh."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh."

Two unidentified figures were sitting in two armchairs placed atop a podium and facing opposite directions to look into floating "Real Wave" screens which apparently surveyed several different areas: there images of a forest, a valley, an abandoned village, an industrial site and, finally, a black-colored steel-made ominous tower sitting in an island set on the middle of the lake and reaching for the heavens while surrounded by purplish fog and thunderbolts.

"They'll reach our position around 9 AM… We gotta be ready by then and pull back quickly before the news can be leaked." A woman warned.

"Leave that to me. I'm faster than my reflection." A man replied.

"Obviously. And they can't be expecting this. They've neglected us for way too long… It's about time we fulfilled what our late _partner_ desired: to fill them with terror and fear…!" The woman sounded eager.

"Yeah! _Partner_! If you're looking… Know this: we will not let your work, what you achieved, be in vain! Those repulsive humans will regret having destroyed you… We will avenge you!"

Both laughed aloud while their voices echoed inside of the enigmatic control room…


	7. Chapter 7: Cyber World

**Chapter 7: Cyber World**

8:40 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"…Wizard Ship calling Wizard Tower. Repeat: Wizard Ship calling Wizard Tower. We request permission to land. Repeat: we request permission to land."

"Permission granted. Head for the heliport in the south coastline: start cutting height and reverse engines."

"Roger, Wizard Tower."

The Wizard Ship was heading towards a clearly artificial island which contained a tall steel tower which had a battle stage on the top floor exposed to the environment: the tower structure had four curved steel pillars which formed its outer structure and was clearly recognizable amongst a heap of ruins and fragments of other buildings: a helipad had been marked on the southern end of the island for the Wizard Ship to land at.

"Cut height from our current 1000 meters to 700 meters. Prepare landing approach: ready vertical engines." One of the pilots commanded.

"Roger, sir."

"Good morning to all contestants: we will soon be landing in our next destination. There is no need to pick any luggage: the Wizard Ship will stay there until the end of the tournament. The cleansing staff will take care of the rooms." The referee announced through the P. A. system.

The Wizard Ship suddenly rocked and it began to veer towards the west instead of keeping its straight course: alarms rang out in the command bridge and the three pilots were hysterically typing into their consoles' keyboards.

"What in the…?" The referee asked.

"I can't get the control back! Something has hijacked our systems and is taking us away from the scheduled course! The hacking signal is very strong so they have to be nearby!"

"W-what's going on?"

"Huh! Eh… W-well… That's…"

Subaru, Misora, Akatsuki, Kiboyama and Tsukasa had rushed into the control bridge: they'd obviously been startled by the sudden rocking.

"What's going on?" Akatsuki asked.

"We don't know for sure… But it'd seem something has hijacked the whole ship!" One pilot reported.

"What?" Subaru gasped.

"Huh? That monitor is acting strange! Isn't it?" Tsukasa signaled.

A monitor built over the front viewing Plexiglas panels was displaying static instead of the usual screensaver.

"How strange! I could swear it was off two minutes ago." The second pilot exclaimed.

The screen soon cleared and everyone gasped given how two persons had appeared on it.

One of them, to the left, was a guy around Subaru and company's age: his eyes' irises were crimson red and his hair was colored jet black hair: it was rather messy and reached all the way to the base of his neck.

Only his upper torso could be seen and he was wearing a black wool jumper.

Something about his face triggered a reaction in Subaru's subconscious.

The second one, to the right, was a girl around the same age: she also had red crimson eyes irises and jet black hair which ended close to the base of the neck.

Like the guy, she merely wore a black wool jumper.

Something was triggered in Misora's subconscious this time.

"Who are you two?" Akatsuki demanded.

"I'm Mr. Admin." The guy replied while shrugging.

"I'm Ms. Admin." The girl replied while also shrugging.

"Why have you hijacked the craft?" Tsukasa demanded.

"We felt bored. We saw company coming over so we've decided to invite you people to our show." The guy shrugged.

"I'd even say more: you're our pawns in a chessboard." The girl made a smug smile.

"Look over there!" Kiboyama exclaimed all of a sudden.

They all looked over there to see a gigantic ray-manta-shaped metallic fortress emerging from the waters colored in a metallic-like-green color plus having two large horizontal and parallel hatches which were opening thus revealing a cavernous inside.

"That's…!" Misora gasped.

"Impossible!" Subaru gasped.

"Impossible? Why? You didn't get to destroy it back then! It entered auto-pilot through some secondary systems and then it fled to parts unknown! Kuroban Howsad's fortress! Stolen from the Bermuda dockyards…! We have named it "Underwater Shrine"!" Mr. Admin laughed.

"And a nightmare awaits you guys inside of that thing… An unending nightmare…!"

"They plan on holding the ship hostage inside of that thing? It won't be long before we escape with our abilities." Akatsuki grinned.

"Sorry. But the interior has been redesigned to impede Denpa – Henkan usage." Mr. Admin revealed.

"That's cheating!" Kiboyama yelled.

"Of course." Ms. Admin confirmed.

"Those who enjoy adrenaline rushes might want to join us in this little party." Mr. Admin amusedly invited.

"You'll learn more once we dock." Ms. Admin added.

Before they could question them any further, the screen went black and everyone looked concerned.

"Let's try contacting for help." Tsukasa suggested.

"Bad news: there's a jammer field in place which stops all incoming and outgoing signals." War Rock reported.

"And it's too powerful to be broken just like that, too…" Harp added with a hint of annoyance.

"What a bunch of cheaters!" Akatsuki cursed.

The Wizard Ship was pulled inside of the fortress and it descended until two magnetic locks closed around its frame: the two giant hatches were sealed and the sound of heavy machinery could be heard transmitting through the metallic structure before the Wizard Ship's entry/exit hatch opened and the five of them stepped down.

"Heh. It looks like there's gonna be a thrill ride." Someone announced with a hint of amusement.

They spotted Solo climbing down the stairs and looking around the place with a look of amusement.

"Guess so…" Subaru shrugged.

"I'd say "for sure"…" Solo looked amused.

"Walk down the corridor in front of you." Mr. Admin's voice rang out through some speakers.

"It's getting late." Ms. Admin insisted.

They all walked down the corridor and didn't spot Shinobi discreetly trailing them: they stepped through two large open lock doors and entered a printed-circuit-filled room where two life-size holograms of Mr. Admin and Ms. Admin were waiting: they both wore identical clothes since they included fingerless gloves, jeans and black leather boots into their attire.

"Welcome to the nightmare of the Cyber World: can you try to make it to our Temple alive?" Mr. Admin challenged.

"The first two who made it there will be told how to leave this place."

"So that's how it is. Yet your work for Kuroban?"

"Work for Kuroban? No, no. We found the place on our own after he'd vacated it. We've done some little refurbishing yet we haven't been able to rebuild all those robots you destroyed."

"That's gotta be the positive part. What do we have to expect instead, "Darkloids", FMs, UMAs and Noised Wizards?"

"Bravo." Mr. Admin made some sarcastic clapping.

"Go fish." Misora challenged.

"Fish a sardine." Ms. Admin giggled.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Funny dudes…" Shinobi muttered.

"Damn. I knew it. The punk's 'long for the ride." Akatsuki cursed.

"At least we left Utagai – san onboard…" Tsukasa muttered.

"That was a bright idea…" Kiboyama shrugged.

"… Definitely…" Ms. Admin was whispering to her accomplice.

"Chut. Lower your voice… Let's talk it on the Control Room…"

"Huh? What are you plotting, you two?" Kiboyama demanded.

"Ask Moon Disaster."

"Or should we say Moon _Ace_?"

"Not again…" Akatsuki groaned.

"Talk time's over! Plunge into the depths of this Cybernetic Hell!"

Holes opened beneath each of them and they fell down through some long and deep tubes towards the unknown as the two of them laughed aloud…

09:31 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Ow… Aw… Damn it…"

"Crap…"

Subaru and Misora awoke while feeling an intense headache and discovered that they were standing in the middle of a calm summertime forest: grass could be seen everywhere as well as the sun in a cloudless sky while a soft wind blew across the land.

"Yo!"

War Rock popped out in front of Subaru's face with a scary expression and looking about to devour him.

"Yikes!"

Subaru actually hit his head with one tree branch due to the jump he made and fell into the ground.

"Ouch… Rock! I'm fed up with this!" Subaru groaned.

"Pororon! That wasn't nice." Harp told him with a hint of annoyance.

"What were you expecting?" Misora asked.

"Anyway! Guys and girls: we're inside of this freaky Cyber World thing, for all the looks and gives. We can perform Denpa – Henkan inside of this space, though." War Rock announced.

"Have you located the others?" Misora asked Harp.

"Pororon! No. They're not in a 500 meters radius." Harp replied.

"This Cyber World must be kilometers wide… How are gonna find their "Temple" thing?" Subaru wondered.

"Surprise: they bothered to include Wave Roads, too."

"Then let's go already! Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"

Both transformed into Rock Man and Harp Note and jumped into a nearby Wave Road before nodding to each other: the hunt was on…

09:35 AM (Japan Time)…

"… It'd seem we've gotta fend off in our own."

"What guys!"

Tsukasa and Kiboyama had awakened inside of a large factory-like building along with Storm and Miles.

"And what can we do besides walking? We can't use Denpa – Henkan to ride in the Wave Roads." Tsukasa cursed.

"If we could find any vehicle or shortcut, it'd make our day, I swear."

"For the time being there doesn't seem to be anything dangerous around us." Storm reported.

"But it's obvious that they must've reserved some nasty aces in the hole for us." Miles warned.

"For all I know regarding Kuroban… He might to play a psychological trap on us." Kiboyama warned.

"Then we must try to reason if any strange situation we meet is logical or crazy to break through the illusion." Tsukasa suggested.

"Damn. And let's hope we don't have to face the punk either. He might get thrilled and we'd be done for." Kiboyama hissed.

"They won't get past my shield!" Miles proclaimed.

"I'll electrocute them!" Storm exclaimed.

"Guess we don't need to worry about that… Hyde must try to look like a gentleman so he's surely ordered the punk to do nothing until the end of the tournament." Tsukasa replied.

"Standing here and chatting won't do any good. Let's try to find the "Temple" thing. It's gotta stand out somehow if we could get out into the open unless it's built underground." Kiboyama rallied.

Both nodded in agreement before they set off while their Wizards orbited around them: danger could be lurking ahead…

09:37 AM (Japan Time)…

"…I've been left on my own and I've gotta find the other four. Thank goodness Utagai - san stayed onboard. I'd hate to babysit the guy, truth to be told."

"Do you have any practical ideas?"

Akatsuki had awakened and found himself in cave inside of a mountain range which spanned kilometers beyond his sight and was surrounded by a dense and bone-chilling fog.

"Let's use the Wave Road and try to get to the big bosses."

"Roger."

"Denpa – Henkan! Akatsuki Shidou, On Air!"

Akatsuki became Acid Ace and immediately dropped down into a Wave Road crossroad.

"Let's try south for the time being and… Huh! Long Sword!"

"Good reflexes."

Acid Ace had to suddenly whip around and slice a Mettool which had tried to hit him from behind in halt thus deleting it: more of them began to form around him.

"A trap! I prefer those to wandering around here aimlessly. Come, ugly Viruses! You're uglier than Queen Tia's make-up!"

"As far as I…"

"I'm being ironic! I know both she and Hibiki dislike make-up. And that gal who greeted us didn't seem to be the type either. Let's hope she's not like Queen Tia, though." He muttered.

"And what would that be?"

"Not like you'd get the point… Damn! There's no end to them!"

"We are in trouble, then."

09:41 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah. This looks fitting."

"Euh…"

Shinobi was wandering around some ancient stone corridors which looked like a total replica of the Mu Continent: Assassin was following Shinobi and looked bored.

"I think it's time to go find some fun. Don't you agree, Assassin?" Shinobi asked with his amused tone.

Assassin merely shrugged and muttered something undecipherable while Shinobi crossed his forearms and closed his fists to make them come closer to his shoulders.

"… Hah! Emu! Iuru! Shu! Segi! En! Gureru! Ra! Euru! Ereph! En! Neum! Shutosu! Sewa… Ne…" He began chanting in an echoing voice: his words had a sinister echo to them and they seemed to be part of some ancient spell.

A bright purple light began to surround him and Assassin as the Wizard vanished and his image was superimposed over Shinobi's body before there was a flash of purple light.

"Mwah, hah, hah!"

Shinobi gained two _shuriken_ on his knees and shoulders while a small green _shuriken_ glowed in the middle of his forehead: but he didn't look much different than in his normal form.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Assassin Shinobi came… Mwah, hah, hah. Time to slice and dice… Here they come~!"

Viruses began to form around the area and he laughed as he drew the _katana_ and brandished it: each deleted Virus let out some "blood" which stained him.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Rejoice, Assassin! Here's blood for you to drink! These guys though of everything! Mwah, hah, hah!"

09:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Heh. I've gotta survive and find those two jerks, huh? I dunno why. But something about them seems familiar."

"Ru…"

Solo had been wandering a devastated city which looked like it'd been assaulted by an army on a long past era due to the high level of decay and the wildness of the vegetation around it: he looked amused and Laplace was following him.

"Let's go explore further. Denpa – Henkan! Solo, On Air!"

Solo became Burai and Laplace transformed into the Laplace Sword: Burai smirked and climbed the ivy on a wall until he reached the top and was close to a ramp leading into a Wave Road.

"Next stop: the "Temple"." He announced.

"Ru… Da…"

"Hmmm? What happens if we find the punk? We're still taking part in the tournament, you know. I want to play fair. So I'll merely ignore the punk given how the punk will ignore me. Hmpf. The "Assassins' Clan"… Don't make me laugh. They were pathetic. Their own internal strife for supremacy was their doom!" He grinned.

"Ga… Da… Ru… Ga…"

"Yeah, I know… Here they come… Come! Rubbish!"

"Metto~! Metto~!"

A horde of Mettools jumped towards Burai but he merely swept the air with the Laplace Sword and deleted them: these ones didn't let blood out like the other ones yet they quickly regenerated.

"Hah! Mere rubbish! Mere weaklings. Mere fools. Mere idiots. Mere pawns. Grunts. Jerks. Lowlifes. Idiots. Imbeciles." Burai taunted.

He laughed and sliced another pack into pieces…

09:50 AM (Japan Time)…

"… We've got all of the pawns on the move."

"Perfect."

The guy and the girl were sitting in two metallic armchairs which were glued together by the back which had integrated keyboards and were set on top of a machine-like cylinder: many wires came in and out from the cylinder's base and the whole room was made of printed circuitry.

"All cameras work fine, too, Ka."

"Good, Ku."

Both of them were looking at slightly curved floating "Real Wave" screens which were set on a grid which allowed them to slide up and down and to the left or the right: some of them displayed maps, others displayed landscapes and another set were monitoring the progress of the seven persons trapped inside of the Cyber World.

"Hah! This was just the prologue. It's about time we began with the real stuff, Ka."

"Yeah, Ku. I'm finishing the programming of the "Bosses" and the Viruses are catching up to some of them by now."

"Perfect. Make sure to set a tough one for that Assassin Shinobi punk He's eager to kill something, Ka." Mr. Admin put up a smug smile.

"Let's see if he'll get himself killed instead, Ku."

"Regarding the two loners… What should we do, Ka?"

"Let's split them from their Wizards and then have some fun with them."

"Which one would you like to pick, Ka?"

"I'll pick the brown-haired man." Ms. Admin immediately replied.

"I'll be having the green-haired guy, then. This is going to be entertaining."

Both laughed aloud in an evil tone of voice…


	8. Chapter 8: Cheat Codes

**Chapter 8: Cheat codes**

10:08 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Is it me or is the ground shaking?"

"Something is ahead."

Rock Man and Harp Note had entered a maze of underground tunnels and caves and had been noticing a slight shaking of the ground from time to time: they spotted two carved stone doors with the Mu crest on both of them and the shaking intensified.

"Mu crest, ground shaking… I'm afraid I know what's inside." Rock Man grumbled.

"I have the same suspicion, too."

"I guess it can't be helped. There's no other path." Rock Man sighed and sounded resigned.

"Let's blow it up again." Harp Note rallied.

Both pushed the heavy doors open towards the inside and stepped into a gigantic cavern: a tall and imposing silhouette was on the middle of their path while moving and provoking the ground shaking.

"Stop with the cheap suspense. We know what that thing is so get on with the show." Rock Man demanded aloud as if the two villains could hear him speaking.

"That's - _Ra Mu_." Harp Note announced in a totally dull and unimpressed tone of voice.

Ra Mu was looming over them with its two gigantic hands and looked about to crush them.

"I'm not into the mood for a long and pointless battle. Let's go for the _cheat codes_." Rock Man suggested.

"Mwah, hah, hah!" War Rock laughed.

"Oh yeah! Let's go!"

"Black End Galaxy!"

"Red Gaia Eraser!"

Rock Man formed a black cluster of energy which he threw behind Ra Mu and it expanded into a black hole: Rock Man drew the sword the "Black Ace" form had and dashed forward to make a cut to Ra Mu's mole and made the black hole implode: its shockwave swept the area.

"Go for it!"

Harp Note formed two yellowish discs with gear-like black-colored edges which floated in the air in an inclined positions: they formed continuous streams of orange-colored energy which moved up and down across the ground: Harp Note shot a third stream at Ra Mu and when it combined with the other three it formed a dome-shaped explosion which engulfed the whole of the beast.

"GRUWRO~H!"

"Did that do it?" Harp Note asked.

"Doubt it." Rock Man muttered.

When the light and smoke cleared, Ra Mu was barely standing, most of its stone body having been destroyed and its core destroyed, thus stopping it from attacking any more or switching to its "flame" form: it looked about to collapse into pieces at any second now.

"Hah. Let's kick this guy outta the way."

Rock Man walked in front of it and kicked it with his right foot: the whole mass broke down into stone shards and collapsed thus filling the corridor with dust.

"See? Cheat codes sure can be useful." Rock Man put up a smug smile, for once.

"Maybe Omega can have bright ideas from time to time."

"Hah! What a bunch of useless stone. The great me easily pulverized it back then and this time as well!" War Rock boasted.

"Pororon! I'd rather say it was lacking structural integrity." Harp added with a hint of amusement.

"Hey! That ain't fair! You were supposed to _die_!" Mr. Admin's voice echoed into the space coming out of nowhere.

"Bite us." Rock Man challenged.

"Che!" Ms. Admin hissed.

"You're uglier than this stone thing." Harp Note added.

"How dare you!" Ms. Admin roared.

"Calm down!" Mr. Admin told her while he'd obviously forgotten to switch off the mike.

"Get lost!" Ms. Admin yelled at him.

"Oi! I'm not to blame! I couldn't expect them to use cheat codes!" Mr. Admin shot back.

"You're fired!" Ms. Admin hissed.

"Cool it down, will ya!" Mr. Admin insisted.

"… They sound like a couple of the edge of break-up." Harp Note put up a smug smile again.

"They sure do." Rock Man agreed on it.

"Let's leave them to their couple quarrels and move on forward." Harp Note suggested while signaling the exit.

"Roger."

"And what if you had actually tried to use your abilities to help that guy win? Then things would be better!" Ms. Admin snapped at the guy.

"He didn't want anyone to get in the middle of his stuff!"

"Typical lazy grunt's excuse!"

"I ain't a lazy grunt!"

10:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… I stake anything that one of Queen Tia's minions is around here."

"Shidou…"

Acid Ace was inspecting a fog-filled valley and had decided to break the tense atmosphere with a joke of his.

"What? A joke is perfect to shake off the gloomy atmosphere!" Acid Ace grinned.

"You're too stubborn." Acid grumbled.

"Go and blame Mr. Universe for that." Acid Ace shrugged.

"I don't see the point of it." Acid shot back.

"Oho! You're developing some counter-arguments, huh?" Acid Ace teased with a broad smile.

"GROA~H!" A slightly pitched roar echoed _very_ close by.

"I know that melody." Acid Ace grumbled.

"I do, too." Acid confirmed.

"Show your ugly hide, _Crimson Dragon_." Acid Ace demanded.

The fog cleared to reveal Crimson Dragon popping its inferior body from a hole in the middle of the valley: its two heads were clearly visible and it looked as ferocious as it'd been two years ago when the Meteor G incident.

"Acid. Let's go for the cheat codes, shall we?" Acid Ace grinned.

"Roger."

"Alright! Eat this! Meteor Light Barrage! Dynamic Wave! Elemental Cyclone! Thunderbolt Blade! Atomic Blazer!" Acid Ace announced.

The five elemental attacks bombarded, soaked, dizzied, electrocuted and burnt Crimson Dragon and it roared in agony: the result was that most of the body was destroyed and it looked about to die at any second now.

"Hmmm… I've got it! G Meteor Laser! Eat your own medicine!" Acid Ace decided with a broad grin.

Grave Joker appeared on the Field and shot his Grave Meteor Laser at Crimson Dragon thus totally annihilating it and making it blow up in a thousand pieces of data: what was left was a hole which seemed to lead into an underground cave somewhere.

"Hey! What's this with everyone using cheat codes? You guys are supposed to die trying!" Mr. Admin cursed.

"I don't follow the rules set by ugly dudes." Acid Ace grinned.

"Yet another…! You repulsive male…!" Ms. Admin hissed.

"Whoa. This gal has some language." Acid Ace grinned again.

"Cool it down, will ya? Quarreling won't lead us anywhere!" Mr. Admin told his partner.

"Screw you!" Ms. Admin shot back.

"Why did ya have such temper…?" Mr. Admin sounded exasperated by now.

"While they continue their divorce discussion, I'm going to check this cave." Acid Ace grinned.

He jumped into the hole and landed in the room with the remains of Ra Mu: he whistled in admiration.

"Hmmm… I'm sure that Subaru and Misora passed through here quite recently ago. I better go try to catch up with them." He muttered.

"And I insist: your show back there was lame!"

"It had the necessary dramatic effect! An enemy who could strike out of nowhere and decimate a whole platoon while leaving behind an ominous memento…!" Mr. Admin argued back.

"Shaddup! I'm in charge!"

"Hadn't we said this was a 50-50 deal to begin with?"

10:19 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Che. There's nothing."

Assassin Shinobi was wandering around the abandoned city area and looked totally bored and annoyed.

"Show your hides!" He called out.

The whole ground shook and an old building collapsed to give way to Andromeda's first form.

"Shit. I talk too much." Assassin Shinobi cursed.

Andromeda set its sights on Assassin Shinobi and began to bombard him with meteor before it shot two missiles which he barely dodged.

"Huh! I had to find the Ultimate FM Weapon of all things… But if Hoshikawa destroyed it 'bout two and a half years ago, then I can do it, too. Get ready, you damned useless machine! I'll show you the fright of my Folder…" Assassin Shinobi muttered.

Andromeda merely kept on floating around and shooting meteors and missiles towards its opponent before hitting the ground with its mandible and causing a gigantic shockwave: Assassin Shinobi brought up a shield and managed to block it.

"Eat this! Grave Joker X!"

Grave Joker appeared on the Field and made some Giant Buildings blocks fall on top of Andromeda, inflicting Breaker damage.

"Queen Virgo X!"

Queen Virgo appeared on the Field and mage a Hydro Dragon appeared and hit Andromeda repeatedly: Andromeda didn't seem to notice or care.

"Jack Corvus X!"

Jack Corvus appeared and used his Grave Claws to hit Andromeda repeatedly again: this time, though, Andromeda changed to its second form and hit the ground with both hands to cause the shockwave.

"Damn! Spade Magnets X!"

Spade Magnets hit Andromeda twice and got electrocute but kept on not noticing it.

"Dia Iceburn X!"

Dia Iceburn used her Diamond Breath to freeze Andromeda, but it broke free immediately and quickly chained together the meteorites and the missiles before bringing up the right palm and shot a powerful green laser which broke through Assassin Shinobi's shield.

"Gua~h!"

He rolled across the ground and could barely stand from the hit before he managed to stand up somehow and chuckled.

"Yeah… That's what I missed… The adrenaline rush with being so close to death… I'm so gonna smash this thing to pieces right here and right now…! Let's go, Assassin! My blood's boiling! Death! I desire death! I'll blot out all "power" and render this thing powerless! Mwah, hah, hah!"

Andromeda merely kept on bombarding him with missiles and meteors, but Assassin Shinobi had a new strategy ready: he assumed his earlier pose with the forearms crossed and closed to his shoulders and his closed fists.

"Imu… An… Iu… Resu… Wureru… Setouh… Neuku… Geti… Neuru… Nemu… Remu… Resu… Ren… Sutou… Ren…" He chanted in his ancient idiom.

Assassin's form appeared behind Shinobi and shot forward thus hitting Andromeda's core: Andromeda roared and seemed to lose balance while tilting crazily from one side to the other.

"Mwah, hah, hah! This is Assassin's terrific "Special Ability"…! Assassin poisons the enemy and makes it lose 50 HP every turn! Let's go~! Club Strong X!"

Club Strong appeared and used his Swing Storm to hit Andromeda repeatedly: Andromeda began to explode and it crashed into the ground with a large brutal explosion which ruined a whole block of buildings.

"Mwah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

When the explosion cleared, only a smoking crater and some pieces of both Andromeda and the adjacent buildings had survived: the rest was a lot of fires and smokes.

"Mwah, hah, hah hah! I did it. Let's move out and find something else before…." Assassin Shinobi laughed.

"Buro~! Before I make mincemeat of ya~!"

"Huh? Who the…?"

"Ox Tackle!"

"Guwa~h! You lowlife! But you didn't join the tournament! Unless… Of course… You lowlife are but a copy…!"

"Copy! No! I am Ox Fire "R" serving Sirius – sama! Buro~! Feel the flames of Hell! Ox Fire!"

"Gruwa~h! You want fight… I'll give you fight!"

Assassin Shinobi was assaulted by Ox Fire "R" and got tackled into a wall so he growled and managed to draw free.

"Go, Assassin! Poison!"

"Buro~! Damn!"

"DIE!"

Assassin Shinobi drove his _katana_ through Ox Fire's body but didn't get to get it to plunge too deeply: he gasped and was seized by his right arm and thrown against a building: he cursed.

"Damn. "Super Armor"… But the poison must be taking effect… Now I'll end this! Hra~h!"

Assassin Shinobi leapt into the air, spun and then landed atop Ox Fire while plunging the _katana_ into his head from above: Ox Fire fell to the ground and got deleted while Assassin Shinobi laughed in his psychotic tone of voice…

10:23 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmpf. There's nothing worth my time around this bleak place save for rubbish!"

"Ru…"

Burai was pacing around a bog area filled with fog and treacherous bogs which sucked in anything which stepped into them: he reached the center of the bog where a mine shaft had been built but it looked like had almost collapsed.

"Hmmm… Let's check it out." Burai decided.

He jumped down the shaft and into an underground tunnel filled with cart tracks and some lamps which he followed until he reached a wide cavern lighted by flames: a figure was standing on the middle of it.

"Bow before a GOD, you lowlife!" The figure commanded in an arrogant manly voice.

"Hmpf. Apollon Flame. The Mu defective." Burai announced with obvious annoyance.

"What! You shall die for your insults! You lowlife!" Apollon Flame roared with obvious arrogance.

"I don't have time for the likes of you lowlife. Cancer Bubble X! Crown Thunder X!"

Cancer Bubble's attack inflicted double damage thanks to elemental weakness and trapped Apollon Flame in a bubble: Crown Thunder's next attack also did double damage thanks to the fact Apollon Flame was trapped inside of the bubble.

"GROA~H!"

The combination of both attacks left Apollon Flame barely alive, with most of his fire extinguished and he was smoking yet he still had enough power given how he managed to stand.

"Brachio Wave X! Yeti Blizzard X!"

Brachio Wave appeared and "swam" beneath the enemy to use his Aqua Fang on Apollon Flame inflicting double damage thanks to elemental weakness: Yeti Blizzard then made six spheres of snow fall on top of Apollon Flame and inflicted even further damage to him: he was almost dead given how various parts of his body had been destroyed.

"The final blow! Laplace Sword!"

"GRA~H!"

Burai warped in front of him and swept the blade in a wide angle thus effectively destroying the enemy.

"Hmpf. Weakling." He scoffed.

"You used cheat codes, too, eh, Burai?" Mr. Admin's voice rang out of nowhere.

"Hmpf. The cheap tricks of you lowlifes don't impress me. And I'm sure I know you lowlifes from somewhere else." He announced while folding his arms and looking unimpressed.

"Crafty! Aren't cha?" Ms. Admin teased.

"Whatever." Burai scoffed.

"Heh. You're lucky, but no one is lucky forever. See ya around, Mr. Smash-it-all." Mr. Admin laughed.

"Indeed!" Ms. Admin taunted.

"Hmpf. And what if I say that you lowlifes are weaker than a Giant Mettool?" He taunted.

"Wha~t? This big-mouthed jerk!"

"This repulsive man!"

"Hmpf. Typical of imbeciles… Go fish."

"DAMN YOU!"

"Hmpf. Let's go, Laplace!"

10:27 AM (Japan Time)…

"…We should've seen it coming."

"How could they catch us so unaware?"

Tsukasa and Kiboyama were taking cover behind a set of heavy industrial containers while Miles and Storm were fending off a horde of Viruses which had popped out of nowhere.

"Well… At least they're easy to deal with by using Mega – Class Battle Cards… The Folder restrictions seem to have been lifted in this place." Tsukasa muttered.

"And we've had several months' time to learn proper Virus busting as well so…" Gino slowly nodded in agreement.

They were focused on watching the ongoing battle so they didn't notice Mr. Admin and Ms. Admin popping out of nowhere behind them and walking towards them in a silent manner.

"… Ka. Brown."

"Ku. Green."

Before Tsukasa could react, Mr. Admin had closed his right arm around his neck from behind and gripped his left wrist: the same thing happened to Kiboyama: the two villains then vanished with their hostages in tow before they could even shout for help and their Hunter – VGs fell into the ground with a muffled THUD sound.

"… Hey! Tsukasa! Hurry up and send me a new Battle Card!" Storm called out while electrocuting five Mettools with his electrical abilities.

"We're starting to need some heavy firepower!" Miles added.

They kept on fighting and managed to combine their two attacks into one gigantic explosion which wiped out the whole army of Viruses but when they turned around they only spotted their partners' Hunter – VGs on the ground without any trace of them.

"What the…! They've been abducted?" Storm assumed.

"I knew these pieces of rubbish hadn't popped out just to annoy us to begin with!" Miles growled.

"What do we do?" Storm asked.

"We'll have to use the Wave Roads and try to either find them or reunite with the others." Miles suggested.

"Let's pick their Hunter – VGs."

"We better move out before another stampede comes."

Both rammed the doors of the room and came out into a long corridor which was filled with construction equipment: they hid behind a large container as another stampede of Viruses ran past them and into the room they'd been at.

"Damn. We'll have to be playing hide-and-seek with these lowlifes if we keep like this… We need to find another route!" Miles cursed.

"I know! Let's try the first floor."

Both hovered upwards and reached an overseeing walkway which they used to move quicker between each room while ducking to avoid being spotted by the Viruses.

"Why would they abduct them, though?" Storm wondered.

"Maybe they want to use them as human shields if we tried to fight them…!" Miles hissed.

"Damn them. They surely are at the "Temple"… I'd stake anything that it's the neural center of this whole place."

"Yeah. Maybe the whole thing is built as sectors radiating from the center and connecting to it… We'll be lucky if we find an express road connecting there…!" Miles deduced next.

"Tsukasa! Hang in there, _aibou_! I'm coming to your rescue!"

"Gino! _Partner_! Hang in there, too!"

"We'll definitely rescue you two!"


	9. Chapter 9: Terror

**Chapter 9: Terror**

10:51 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Huh… Where the hell am I…?"

Kiboyama felt his consciousness returning in a slow manner while feeling dizzy and disoriented.

"… Huh? I can't see anything…"

He tried to move and found out that he couldn't: his arms and legs had been spread open and his forearms and ankles were immobilized by what felt like iron cuffs set on two parallel vertical wooden poles.

"What the hell!"

As if this wasn't enough, he felt some strange bands of leather around his body: they began around the beginning of his legs and across the hips of his back until they joined an overall band around the waist: another set of bands were tied to cover Kiboyama's cock completely and completely circled around his sack: two small bands were placed parallel above each other close to the base of the cock as well.

"I don't like this."

To round it, he also had two small metallic cups connected by a chain clipped on his nipples and a black wool blindfold covering his eyes.

"Damn them."

"You awake?" Ms. Admin's voice rang out close by.

"You villain…! You've abducted us?" Kiboyama questioned while trying to struggle against the iron cuffs.

"Yeah. And try to struggle all you want: you won't be able to break them. I like seeing guys struggling. It adds more value to them."

"Where's Tsukasa – kun?" He demanded.

"Don't worry! He's in the adjacent room. My partner is dealing with him right now." Ms. Admin replied.

"What's this masquerade about?" He demanded next.

"Masquerade…? This ain't any joke, Kiboyama. I'm gonna make sure to exploit your body and turn it into good merchandise." Ms. Admin laughed in an evil tone.

"Merchandise…? I'm a person!" Kiboyama protested.

_Damn! This sounds like what happened to Tsukasa – kun after the Meteor G Crisis…! He got abducted by a Choina mafia man and exploited for over a year before being freed…! His legs ended up crippled and he just managed to recover two months ago by intense rehabilitation!_

"Nope. You're merchandise and you have no need to speak."

Something was placed which blocked his voice: it felt like a leather band which contained a plastic spheroid with some small holes on it blocking off his mouth and muffling all of his yells.

"There. We're all set. I'm going to teach you how your hole is used like to begin with." Ms. Admin laughed.

Kiboyama negated with the head and kept on trying to shake free, but the cuffs were way too resistant.

_No! I don't wanna end like Tsukasa – kun…!_

He suddenly felt something uneven and of a plastic-like material pushing against his entrance.

_Stop it! Leave me alone! _

The object suddenly forced its way in: it was full of spots which brushed against his inner muscles and inflicted pain to him.

_What in the world is this? It's tearing my insides apart! Take it off! _

The thing suddenly started to vibrate with a repetitive vibration and shook all of Kiboyama's body.

_By all the…! This vibration is turning me strange! Is this what they did to Tsukasa – kun? I don't want to end up with my legs crippled…! _

"Hmmm… Something tells me this is your first time at S&M, yet your entrances gave in so easily… You must've had sex with that Futaba man before, right?" Ms. Admin told him.

_How did this villain…? That's true but we were "soft" style…!_

"Hah. I knew it. Know this: your hole is there to be used. And your mouth is there to be used, too. Your nipples cannot be left unused, either. And you don't have the right to use your cock either." Ms. Admin listed.

Kiboyama felt how something which appeared to be a string of small spheroids was inserted into his urethra and slowly made its way deeper through the inner conduct: Kiboyama groaned in agony.

_Y-you're gonna tear my cock apart from the inside…! Take it off…! Stop pushing it deeper…! I'm gonna go crazy from the pain!_

"Hah! There. You can't cum with that. And you're not allowed to see the clients, hence the blindfold. With enough training, you'll become a good piece of merchandise which will make us gain good profits." Ms. Admin listed next.

_No! I don't want to end up like Tsukasa – kun! Release him! You're gonna destroy his mindset now that "Hikaru" isn't there to take in all of the pain and struggle instead of him…!_

The thing blocking his mouth was taken off and he found a plastic imitation of a cock inside of his mouth.

"This will do before my partner arrives and teaches you to do good blowjobs. Suck it and don't try to pull any tricks: you'll regret it with your sanity." Ms. Admin told him.

Kiboyama was forced to comply while he felt how his cock was bulging and trying to cum, but was unable to do so.

_I must be strong…! Subaru – kun and the others will come and save me sooner or later! _

Kiboyama suddenly felt an electrical current flowing through his body starting at the right side of his neck and lost consciousness…

11:02 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Wakey, wakey."

_Wha!_

Kiboyama woke up all of a sudden when he felt a real cock forcing its way into his insides: two pieces had been placed on his wrists, locking them together and immobilizing the and he also had a thick leather collar with an attached chain around his neck while his legs had been forced spread by an iron bar with two iron cuffs at its ends around his ankles.

_The man! He's raping me!_

He felt how he was sitting on someone's lap and the cock was pulling in and out at a repetitive rhythmic: two hands were gripping the sides of his body and moving him up and down.

"You awake? Heh, heh, heh… Learn this: you're my slave now. And I'm going to make good use of you." Mr. Admin told him in a hushed evil tone and sounding eager.

_No way! This can't be happening! I'm no-one's slave! I'm free! I broke free from being possessed by Kuroban Howsad! I won't end up like Tsukasa – kun, being driven to mental break-down!_

Mr. Admin kept on moving him and up and down before suddenly began to increase the pace and came to with his cock inside of Kiboyama: he let his fluid slide down his cock and sounded relieved.

_Damn them! Another man raped me!_

He was suddenly detached from his lap and forced to sit into the ground on his knees and to face the north: the chain was tugged and he was dragged closer to something: he could smell the distinct odor of cum and a cock.

_No! Anything but this!_

"Heh! Remember this smell: it means that you're supposed to do me a blowjob. Now you'll clean this." Mr. Admin told him.

Kiboyama felt how the piece blocking his mouth was removed and a hand gripped the back of his head: he was forced to take his enemy's cock into his mouth.

"Lick it clean and suck all of it, slave. If you don't comply, I'll wreck your sanity."

Horrified again, Kiboyama was forced to obey and suck and lick the man's cock: the man set the pace with the hand gripped around the back of Kiboyama's head: he soon began to force him to go faster and take it deeper and deeper.

_I'm choking! I can't breathe! I can't take this anymore!_

His enemy suddenly filled Kiboyama's mouth with even more liquid and Kiboyama was forced to swallow the whole thing.

_Grah! It feels worse than when I play with Tsukasa – kun! One thing is doing it by your will, another is being forced to!_

"… Let's check if you're the type who gets excited easily or not. Heh, heh, heh… Come here!"

The man tugged his chain and forced Kiboyama to look up before he felt how the man began to play with the metallic cup clipped on his right nipple: he pulled it towards him and stretched the skin before starting to make a rotation move as if he was screwing a screw using a screwdriver: Kiboyama groaned.

"You like this, don't you, Kiboyama? Futaba surely was the type to let you lick his nipples and turn him on… I know what happened to him and it's amusing how someone saw potential on him before us. And if you think I don't know what it feels like then I'll tell you that I used to be the plaything for Ka for a while. Yet I was waiting for the chance to prove my skills… And here it came!" The man laughed.

_How could someone willingly allow another to rape them? He had to be crazy!_

Kiboyama suddenly felt a taser hitting his neck and blacked out…

11:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Look at them: they sure are lovebirds."

"Yeah. Let's get the last show on the road."

Kiboyama awoke again when he heard both enemies' voices close by: he felt in a different situation now.

_W-what the…!_

To begin with, he was sitting in a triangular wood horse which seemed to have another of those thick and spot-filled vibrator built into its frame: his legs were placed parallel to the sides and kept on having the iron bar around his ankles while his wrists kept on being immobilized and he was still gagged and blindfolded: the S&M gear was still set around his body's length.

_Huh? But something's different…!_

He could now feel how he was very close to another person who was in the same position as him and placed right in front of him: a very short chain emerged from the front of his collar and ended in another collar around the other person's neck: they were so close that the spheroids gagging their mouths were scratching against each other.

_T-this is…!_

He could also feel how the cups on his nipples were now connected to the other person's nipples as well and not in the horizontal position they'd been before.

_Tsukasa – kun!_ Kiboyama realized the only person it could be.

Kiboyama suddenly felt how they removed the thing gagging his mouth and someone removed Tsukasa's: their heads were forced forward and they were obliged to begin a deep kiss at the same time the vibrators inside of them started to vibrate.

"This is our last show! Enjoy your last lovebird kiss before you go crazy and are interned in a psychological rehabilitation clinic forever!"

"I bet that they'll go mad in less than ten minutes."

"I bet eight."

"Let's go to the Control Center and watch it from there. I'm sure the others must be close by taking into account their use of cheat codes."

There were two strange sounds before the room became silent: however, the buzz sound from the vibrators, the creaking of the hanging triangular wooden horse and the gasps, moans and pants of both Tsukasa and Kiboyama could be heard.

"Gi – Gino – kun…" Tsukasa managed to mutter while trying to separate his lips from Kiboyama's.

"Tsu – Tsukasa – kun…" Kiboyama also managed to mutter.

"Will we… make it… through this…?" He asked with obvious fear and terror on his voice.

"Yeah…! We will… Subaru – kun… And the others… Will save us… Have faith… Tsukasa – kun…" Kiboyama tried to encourage him.

"I… believe in you… Gino – kun… but I must… confess… that the reason I asked of you to make out with me was… that I'd become addicted to having my hole being used…! I wanted someone to fill that gap but I didn't dare to ask of Subaru – kun… He would be horrified… But someone who barely knew me… It could feel like a temporary solution… Yet… That grew more passionate… And in the end… We became a couple…! And Subaru – kun joined us from time to time too… I was his first…" Tsukasa confessed between moans.

"Huh… Tsu… Tsukasa… kun… I really… liked you ever since… I firstly met you… in October… You looked… unique… different… and I wanted to help you… I backed you up and encouraged you… so that you could heal…! I _like_ you, Tsukasa – kun!" Kiboyama even cried.

"Gino – kun…! I knew it… Thanks… for everything… you did for me… I can't keep on… Remember me… for who I was…!"

"No! Tsukasa – kun! Hang in there!" Kiboyama gasped in fear.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"What was that…?" Tsukasa gasped.

"Someone's banging a metallic door… Them! They came! They're there, behind the door…! Hang in there, Tsukasa – kun…! Don't betray Subaru – kun's faith in you… He never stopped believing he'd find you… no matter what…!" Kiboyama rallied.

"… What does it take to open this bloody armored door?" Acid Ace's annoyed voice could be heard.

"Akatsuki – san, sir… Ramming into it won't do."

"Try using explosives!" Harp Note rallied.

"Can't be helped… Count Bomb 3!"

"Count Bomb 3!"

"Count Bomb 3!"

Three sets of footsteps ran away while the beep from the Count Bombs could be heard: three simultaneous explosions rang out and a wave of heat invaded the room: the wooden horse swung around.

"Huh? Ah! By all the…! Misora! Stay back! This is - hum - something ugly!" Acid Ace commanded.

"It's - huh - something you shouldn't see…" Rock Man improvised.

"If you say so… I'll go secure the entrance to this corridor just in case then." Harp Note shrugged.

"Wait a min! We'll free you two!" Rock Man announced.

"Please! Take the beads out! We're about to go crazy!" Kiboyama pleaded.

"Hurry up…!" Tsukasa pleaded.

Both cried as their cocks went off and filled their mouths with each other's cum as well as staining their upper torsos and faces before they both lost consciousness due to the accumulated stress…

11:15 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Gino – kun! Tsukasa – kun! Open your eyes, please!"

Kiboyama blinked several times and opened his eyes: his mind felt foggy and his body was numb but he could distinguish Rock Man leaning over him and looking concerned.

"Subaru – kun…" He muttered.

"Thank goodness! We made it on time…" Rock Man looked relieved.

"It's over…?" Kiboyama slowly asked.

"Yeah. You're safe." Subaru confirmed.

Kiboyama managed to sit up somehow from the cold metallic ground to see that Rock Man had dressed him back with his clothes: there was a burning heap of metal, plastic and wood close by.

"Safe…"

Tsukasa was also sitting up while Akatsuki tended to him: he'd also been dressed back and he was still unconscious.

"He must've gotten a worse shock. Dr. Lartes will be busy trying to keep him sane…"

"I tried to encourage him… And it might have helped…" Kiboyama slowly muttered.

"Gino!"

"Tsukasa!"

Miles and Storm ran in along with Harp Note who looked around in a surprised manner.

"… That gal… A sadist?" She deduced.

"Yeah. And the guy too." Rock Man sighed.

"You did well on making me wait outside, then. I have enough trouble trying to shake off Queen Tia – sensei's icy glares."

"That Queen Tia…! She's in the league too but would rather… eh… be in the "same class" type…" Akatsuki grumbled.

"Huh? What's that?" Both Wizards asked.

"Mwah, hah, hah. I'll tell ya guys!" War Rock grinned.

"You won't. And that's an order."

"Man."

"They've been driven to the edge of mental break-down by those two villains so don't be surprised if they convulse during sleep or act in a panicked manner." Akatsuki explained instead.

"What?" A new voice asked.

"Burai."

Indeed: Burai had come in and was looking at the scene.

"Where are those lowlifes?" Burai hissed.

"Huh… T-they said something about… Control Room… and looking from there… Maybe… it's close by…" Kiboyama suggested.

"This is the basement of a large tower in the middle of a lake which is named "Temple" so… The most logical spot to build a control room would be in the top floor. And I can see a spiral stairway over there."

"Akatsuki – san: please tend to them. We're going to bring war to their doorstep, sir!" Rock Man exclaimed.

"And tell the punk that if he wants a thrill there's one upstairs. He won't let that chance escape him." Harp Note requested.

"Gotcha. Be careful, you two. Burai… Do as you like."

"No need to. I have a score to settle with those lowlifes too."

"Good! Let's go! To the decisive battle's grounds!"

Rock Man, Harp Note and Burai rushed out while looking angered: the decisive battle was about to start…


	10. Chapter 10: Destruction

**Chapter 10: Destruction**

11:22 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… _Déjà vu?_"

"It sure is."

"Yeah. I remember that all too well."

Rock Man and Harp Note rushed up an apparently endless spiral stair built around a central metallic cylinder which seemed to channel energy given how it had several LEDs and grooves built into it: tons of Denpa Viruses attacked them at any moment.

"I'll get there ahead of you guys!" A voice announced.

They looked at their left to see Assassin Shinobi clinging into Spade Magnets' body: Spade Magnets had assumed his "rocket" form and was shooting out towards the ceiling: he even waved a hand to them while he shot past them in the blink of an eye.

"What a lowlife…" Burai cursed.

"Yeah. He's gotten into the cheat codes league, too, I'd also say. Let's go after the punk!" Rock Man cursed.

"Kya~h!"

"Damn. Condor Geograph comes next!"

"Leave it to me! Secret Giga Card: Gemini Thunder!"

Harp Note spawned a copy of Gemini Spark and they used their ultimate attack to hit Condor Geograph: he shrieked and fell down the shaft until he crashed against the ground and got deleted.

"Good! Let's hurry it up or Shinobi will get all the glory!"

"Like we'll let the punk!"

"No forbidden clan punk laughs at the Mu Elders!"

"Go!"

They kept on climbing for another four minutes and reached an opening in the ceiling: a hole could be seen close by, clearly made by Spade Magnets when he broke through it.

"Whoa!"

The next room was metallic and square: it was about ten meters wide and ten tall and a catwalk had been attached to the walls at around the five meters tall mark: various fluorescent tubes lighted the whole room which was totally empty save by Assassin Shinobi, who was hitting the walls with his _katana _as if checking they were real.

"So! You've made this far! Too bad, though: three of the players couldn't make it." Mr. Admin's voice rang out.

"But it was worth it, too." Ms. Admin added.

"Show your hides, lowlifes!" Burai challenged.

"You lowlife were right in one thing Burai: we've met before. Twice, in fact!" Mr. Admin admitted.

"And we'd say the same thing for you two, Hoshikawa and Hibiki. Twice, in fact." Ms. Admin added.

"What?" Rock Man frowned.

"We've met before?" Harp Note wondered.

"Twice? Hmmm…" Burai seemed to be thinking about it.

"Heh. This looks interestin'...!" Assassin Shinobi folded his arms and sounded amused.

All of a sudden, and without warning, particles of data began to flow out of virtual door frames which contained black-colored portals: they began to form a silhouette which grew and expanded.

"What's that? The "Last Boss" or what?" Rock Man wondered.

"It sure looks like it."

"Mwah, hah, hah! We're gonna have a thrill!" War Rock laughed.

A gigantic behemoth ended up forming.

It had two legs and two arms but it had no head and instead had a half-sphere-shaped object in the spot where the base of the neck would be located at.

The hands had a cylinder built inside of the palms and three claws

Its knees had five closed hatches while the feet ended in three large and sharp claws,

The chest had five round hatches and the shoulders had circular buzz saws attached to them

The lower edge of the sphere had two small circular holes while the upper edge had a Plexiglas view window.

"Look up here!" A voice called out.

They looked at the spot above the cabin: two persons were there.

One of them looked like Rock Man's Black Ace form but missing the wings and having the pendant replaced by the _kurayami_ _Kanji_.

The shades had been tinted purple, too, and were thick enough to hide his gaze.

"Remember me?"

The one in the left was a copy of Harp Note colored black and purple.

The shades had gained further thickness and the hair turned reddish.

"Hiya~!"

"Y-you two are…!" Rock Man gasped.

"Kurayami and Kanaya…!" Burai muttered.

"Oho… I'd heard of these two." Assassin Shinobi sounded amused and interested.

"So then… You've been hiding here ever since that of Planet "Omicron" yet… Where's "Death Shadow" at?" Rock Man demanded.

"Death? He's gone, sadly enough."

"Yeah. Pity."

"He ditched you guys?"

"Oh, no, no. He fought to the end yet Rock Man deleted him borrowing Vadous' power and tearing a hole in Time-Space." Kurayami explained with a sigh.

"Huh? I don't remember that happening. Don't you mean that I defeated Tabuu and a hole in Time-Space opened?"

"Ops. We mean Rock Man EXE."

"EXE? But I'm "Shooting Star" Rock Man!"

"Heh! Remember Umbra of Zenay III? He looks identical. But switch the purples for blues and the red irises for green ones plus make his voice softer… That's the guy, who lives in the year… 2011." Kanaya grinned.

"What! 2011, ya say? That was almost 200 years ago! How can you know that? You… time-travelled?" Harp Note gasped.

"Yessir. That's why you couldn't find us. And we had the whole ready to bow before us but the Subspace had to get in the way again. So we returned here and bid our time. This tournament proved to be the perfect way to draw you into our clutches." Kurayami grinned.

"The Subspace can do that, too…!" Burai gasped.

"By all the…" Assassin Shinobi uttered.

"Talk time's over! Face the "Giga Saurus"…!"

"Every inch of its body has weapons. And you'll die trying. Then we'll get rid of that Satella Police guy and the other Wizards to get two horny guys to play with." Kurayami announced.

"I won't let the likes of you people lay your claws on my friends."

They both jumped inside of the cabin through two open hatches and locked them.

"Crap!"

The whole monster hummed with the sound of its core and it let out a T-Rex-like roar before it stepped forward.

"Heh. When you three die then I'll take care of this one." Assassin Shinobi boasted.

"I don't think your Lord will like that." Rock Man smirked.

"Che!" Assassin Shinobi scoffed.

The Giga Saurus began to shoot out missiles from its knees and torso plus using two gigantic laser beams to cut through the terrain from the cylinders on its palms and shoot out the buzz saws which rolled like rings across the ground: the three fighters tried to dodge but they started to be bombarded by machinegun fire coming from the cockpit's lower edge.

"Damn! We've barely moved and we're being trapped in a deadlock by now!" Rock man cursed.

"You lowlifes…!" Burai cursed.

"I'll try something. Gorgon Eye!" Harp Note announced.

Ophiucus Queen appeared on the Field and shot a Gorgon Eye Laser at the cockpit: but it was bounced off by some kind of energy field and it scattered in random directions: one of them hit Harp Note and she was propelled at the back wall, crashing into it before falling to the ground.

"Misora – chan!" Rock Man gasped.

Before he could move from his position, though, ten missiles bombarded Harp Note and she yelled in agony before her Denpa – Henkan faded away from the attained damage and she fainted.

"Che! I should've expected it: the cabin is protected. Rock Man! I guess we need to disable all of the weaponry first!" Burai suggested.

"… I'll be bait! Try attacking the back: it must the only unarmed spot. If this thing is running on a fusion core then it needs to vent off heat and the ideal place to put the heat exhausts is on the back!"

"I like how that sounds like!" Burai agreed on it.

"You pieces of rubbish! Try to hit me!" Rock Man challenged.

"I see you're eager to join your girlfriend in the Afterworld! I'll make your wish come true!" Kurayami mockingly announced via a speaker.

"_Die_." Kanaya coldly announced.

Rock Man fixed his gaze on the movements of all weapons and quickly calculated an angle where they couldn't reach: he crouched.

"Fire!" Kurayami announced.

When the weapons began to engage and their combined projectiles headed for Rock Man, he jumped into the air and towards the ceiling to dodge.

"Pegasus Magic GX!" Rock Man announced.

Pegasus Magic appeared on the Field and created a big chunk of iced terrain which completely encased on ice the whole cockpit thus blinding the pilots.

"Sword Fighter X! Sword Fighter X!"

Rock Man took out two swords and jumped on top of the right shoulder: he took profit of the slot left behind to hold the buzz saw and managed to cut some wires which ran down the inside of the shoulders and the way into the hand: the right arm suddenly stopped attacking and it pointed to the ground parallel to the main body: Rock Man then jumped away and landed in the catwalk.

"Good! One arm down!"

In the meanwhile, Burai had found the heat exhausts and had had an idea, evidenced by his smug smile.

"You want to make heat come out… Why don't I make heat come _in_ instead?" He muttered with some amusement on his voice.

"Yu…" Laplace muttered.

He hit an spot just above the right heat exhaust hatch and used the Laplace sword to hold into place as he faced the heat wave coming out of the machine.

"Daba Flame X!"

The combined heats were more than the alloy which made up the port could withstand, so it melted and began to block off the heat exhaust, thus making some heat remain trapped inside of the machine.

"Who goes there?" A voice rang out.

Burai looked up and spotted Kanaya standing inside of a doorway and looking down towards him.

_Damn. The cockpit has a back door._ Burai cursed.

"Get lost! Ice Spinning X!" Kanaya hissed.

She threw the spinning penguin at Burai and it broke through his Mu Rejection due to the fact it was Breaker-elemental: he fell into the ground and hard.

"Damn." He hissed.

"Die." Kanaya announced.

Two large hatches opened on the sides of the machine near to the arms and let out an army of BoBoBon Bomb Xs which bombarded Burai over and over again: he roared in agony and his Denpa – Henkan broke apart from the attained damage so he fainted immediately afterwards.

"This side is clear, Kurayami. Try to engage the radar and we can go finish this." Kanaya shouted towards the insides.

"OK!" Kurayami replied.

"Guess it's my turn." Someone announced.

"Huh? Ah! That guy…!" Kanaya hissed.

Assassin Shinobi had appeared right on top of the opened doorway hatch with his _katana_ unfolded.

"Hyde – sama's orders tell me that Hoshikawa must stay alive so that he can kill him personally. You are in the way of those orders so I'm allowed to kill you two instead." Assassin Shinobi sounded amused.

"Try it!" Kanaya shot back.

She closed the hatch and Assassin Shinobi jumped back just in time: he managed to stand atop the monster, but, at that moment, two hatches opened and two large flamethrowers began to vomit rivers of napalm towards him.

"Fuck!"

He managed to jump into the ceiling, but another two hatches opened and two machineguns with a rotating axis appeared and began to unload their laser ammunition on him.

"Shit! They weren't kidding!" Assassin Shinobi cursed.

Rock Man, in the meanwhile, had managed to destroy the right knee and was having trouble dodging the continuous bombs which were being shot out by the opened claws: he managed to cut through some of them and landed on the left hand's wrist.

"Eat this!"

He plunged his swords into the small space between the arm and the hand and managed to cut off the mechanical pieces holding the hand together: it fell down into the ground and its laser unit was crushed.

"Keep at it, Subaru!" War Rock encouraged.

Rock Man merely nodded in agreement and used a Recovery 300 to regain some strength and thought of what to do next.

"Assassin Shinobi is focusing half of their attention. I must use this window of opportunity. Kurayami can only control the right side of the robot. And it's almost all disabled… I need to stop the outflow of bombs…"

"Oi! Make the bombs detonate while they're still inside!"

"Gotcha! Machine Flame X!"

The powerful industrial napalm flamethrower ignited the insides of one of the right foot's bomb compartments and it exploded thus triggering a chain reaction which destroyed the right foot from the inside: the monster shrieked and lost balance because of the lack of the right foot.

"Good! Like this…!"

It tilted backwards and crashed its back against the north wall while leaving a noticeable dent there and getting stuck: the middle rear exhaust port was half-crippled due to the hit.

"That's worth 500 points!" War Rock laughed.

"Y-yeah… Guess so…" Rock Man made a weak smile.

The ice of the cockpit began to melt and the machine guns opened fire again along with the chest missiles: Rock Man managed to barely dodge by calculating where they would land at given their trajectories.

"Take this! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! I'm so thrilled!" Assassin Shinobi laughed while he sliced up the flamethrowers and dodged the machinegun fire.

"Let's let that guy be and focus… We need to stop the chest missiles compartments… Any bright ideas, Skipper?" Rock Man muttered before asking War Rock in a sarcastic manner.

"Heh! If they want missiles… Give them bombs instead! The Curse of the Bomb is gonna come knock at their locked hatches!" War Rock suggested.

"Excellent. Mad Vulcan X! Count Bomb X!"

Rock Man shot several quick machinegun shots inside of one missile compartment to destroy its hatches and stop it from closing: Rock Man then threw the bomb inside and jumped away.

"Have at ya!"

The result was immediate: the whole front chest plate blew up in a brutal explosion and some fragments hit the cockpit's lower edge, disabling the machineguns in there.

"Whoa."

The open hole revealed the cylinder of the fusion core which powered the whole machine: the hole had the side-effect of allowing all of the increasing heat to vent off.

"Hmmm… What was that which Boss taught me about fusion cores? If you don't distribute the correct doses of Deuterium and Tritium then the core might blow up… Let's put that into test." Rock Man grinned.

"Do ya really think they'll let ya even come close to that?" War Rock sounded skeptic.

"Black Ink!"

Rock Man threw the capsule at the cockpit and it stained it with octopus black ink, thus blinding it: Rock Man took the chance to jump inside of the super heated space and spotted two flow valves with dose indicators labeled "DETRIUM" and "TRITIUM" respectively: both were set at the same flow rate.

"Hmmm… Let's set the Tritium higher." Rock Man grinned.

He opened the "TRITIUM" valve to its maximum and quickly jumped off the space before the heat affected him: he managed to land into the ground and distracted them by shooting at one of the remaining machineguns while Assassin Shinobi sliced the other to pieces.

"Oi! Assassin Shinobi! If you value your ugly hide then jump out from there!" Rock Man called out.

"What?" Assassin Shinobi gasped.

"Let's say there's gonna be a fireworks display!"

"Oho… Maybe I'll listen to you today." Assassin Shinobi sounded quite amused.

Rock Man quickly dodged an attempt by the left foot to hit him and picked Solo and Laplace's inert bodies.

"Warp!"

He warped with them on tow to the other end of the room and picked some remaining fragments of the chest plate armor to shield him and the others while Assassin Shinobi jumped into the catwalk and ran towards the north.

"DIE!" Both pilots shouted.

However, the fusion core began to emit some sounds and shake: some cracks formed on it and it began to frizzle, electrocuting the whole machine: it began to shine next and the brightness began to increase.

"NO WAY~!"

It suddenly imploded as a gigantic uncontrolled sphere of pure raw plasma which melted the whole monster and part of the room's steel: the walls faded away as data since its "materialization" limit had been broken: the sphere collapsed and provoked a shockwave which swept the whole room and made everyone hit the far wall in a violent manner and get stuck there by the brutally hot thermal output.

"Ugwa~h!"

When the brutal thing ended, most of the room was history and another room on top of this one threatened to detach from the tower and plunge into the lake surrounding it: there was no trace of the monster.

"… Huff… Huff… Did you just trigger a chain fusion reaction? That was way too brutal!" Assassin Shinobi looked terrorized.

"Well… Tabuu faked his death like that, so…"

"Huh? What's that room up there?" Assassin Shinobi wondered.

Both looked at it and realized it was the "Control Room" where both enemies had been monitoring the whole of the Cyber World.

"The "Control Room"…!"

Most of the screens were frizzling although one displayed a cutaway of the tower, indicating that there was B2F section which had the label "EXIT" written on it.

"Guess that's where the exit is at… I'll be going ahead… See ya in the Wizard Ship." Assassin Shinobi announced.

He jumped down, ran across what remained of the room, and plunged without any fear towards the lake thirty meters below: a gigantic plume of water originated upon him landing there.

"Subaru! Everyone!" A familiar voice shouted.

Acid Ace rushed up the stairs and entered the room.

"Akatsuki - san! Didn't I tell request of you to stay with Tsukasa – kun and Gino – kun, sir?" Rock Man asked.

"Gino told me to come and check. He was terrorized by the scandal and this explosion sent them over the edge and he pleaded to me, so I've come here." Acid Ace replied.

"Kurayami and Kanaya, sir! They were the villains, sir! They were piloting a death mobile and I blew up its fusion core by triggering a chain reaction, sir!" Rock Man summarized.

"By all the… I'd forgotten those two!"

"Can you help me carry Misora – chan and Solo down to the basement, sir? There's a second basement which has the exit." Rock Man requested.

"The exit? Then count on me."

Acid Ace picked Solo while Rock Man carefully picked Misora and they began to head downstairs.

"Man! That's gotta be the coolest explosion ever!" War Rock laughed.

"Sure thing… And now we'll get outta here!"

"Finally…! This nightmare is gonna end…!" Acid Ace smiled.

"But then the nightmare of Warus Rockus Samus will begin!"

"Jeez. Stop with the Latinisms."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Warus Rockus Samus is a Genius with Capital G!"


	11. Chapter 11: Wizard Tower

**Chapter 11: Wizard Tower**

11:51 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Come on… Just another little bit…"

"S-sorry for the burden…"

"Don't mind that, Gino – kun!"

"I've been trying to make Tsukasa – kun wake up but I haven't had success yet… I've been trying to comfort him and try to encourage him but… The shock must've been worse than I'd thought…"

"Those lowlifes… At least we blew them up with their machine."

"Yeah. They deserved that."

"Now let's get outta here and back to the tournament!"

The group of six (Subaru, Akatsuki, Misora and Solo still in Denpa – Henkan) were making their way down a concrete corridor lighted and having symbols indicating "EMERGENCY EXIT" in the walls: Rock Man was helping Kiboyama walk and Acid Ace carried the still unconscious Tsukasa.

"Mwah, hah, hah! The explosion of the decade~!" War Rock laughed.

"Tabuu beat you to that. I stole his idea." Rock Man shot back.

"Wha~t?"

"And I could've used the Battle Cards he granted me, too. Maybe I'll save them for a special occasion." Rock Man muttered.

They crossed a threshold the door of which had been cut off its hinges and tossed into the ground and into a room which had a Warp Point colored white in the middle of it.

"The exit! Finally! Let's get outta this nightmare! Next stop: Wizard Tower!"

"HORRAY!"

The group stepped into the Warp Point and all became white…

11:55 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh… We did it…?"

When Subaru opened his eyes again, he discovered that he was sitting in soft red armchair placed inside of an inclined egg-shaped capsule with a Plexiglas cover complemented with was a curved slot to rest the head.

"Huh? What the heck?"

Two sensors which had been attached to his head disengaged before the cover lifted and Subaru jumped off: there were several more capsules aligned to his right and in front and a small PC terminal had been set nearby.

"Back in the real world, huh? Then my body wasn't my real body but a "simulation" as well…" He muttered aloud.

"Heh! It'd seem that when you lost consciousness back when they threw us down the holes some robots picked our bodies and placed us in these capsules to "upload" us into the Cyber World." War Rock explained with a broad grin.

"Oi, Subaru! Over here!" Akatsuki called out.

"Roger, sir!"

The group walked down a corridor and soon exited into the main hanger where the Wizard Ship was locked at: the magnetic locks had been removed and the main hatch opened indicating that the whole thing had surfaced.

"I've got some good news. Apparently… The explosion's brutal EMP blast disabled all settings on the fortress and it switched to its emergency power mode and emergency ascent mode thus unlocking all doors and everything." Acid reported.

"Excellent! Let's board the Wizard Ship. We'll then call a squad of Satella Police officers to see if we find anything salvageable. They could be a hint of anything else Kuroban might've thought of but not had time to properly implement…" Akatsuki suggested with a smile.

"Roger."

"Welcome back! With this all contestants are back." The referee sighed in relief.

"As I thought… The broken door was Shinobi's handiwork. But who cares, anyway? Take-off!" Akatsuki muttered before instructing the referee.

"Roger!"

"Let's take them to their rooms… Gino! Stay with Tsukasa and look after him. Oi! Is there an onboard medic?"

"Yes, sir! I'll call him, sir."

"Good. And remember to be wary of Contestant Number 1."

"Roger, sir."

Subaru stepped into his room and collapsed in the bed while looking totally worn out.

"Ironic! My "real" body did no exercise and all I did was a "simulation" yet the stress from it was transmitted back into my real body…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Wanna ask Solo to refresh ya with a kick?"

"Course not… Shaddup or I ring Boss."

"Che. Okay, okay… No sense of humor, really…"

"Alright! Engines are already heated up, so… Take-off! Full speed to Wizard Tower!" The referee warned over the P. A. system.

"At last…! Farewell, cursed vessel!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah. Cursed vessel? That'll be Misora's newest single: _The Adventure in the Cursed Vessel_! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"By all the… Leave me alone… My head's agonizing…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Get ready, punk! I'll make ya bald with one swipe!"

"No good… Ugh…"

12:02 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh… Ah… They fled… Damn it…"

"Who cares…? We still have… some tricks left…"

Kurayami and Kanaya, having managed to escape to the real world (still having their battle forms on) barely managed to walk into the hanger from another corridor: both were panting and leaning on the corner of the walls while being obviously annoyed.

"At least they forgot we can warp at will inside of the Cyber World… We managed to escape when the thing was about to blow… But we weren't expecting the brutal EMP shockwave… It almost deleted us…" Kurayami muttered between pants and hisses.

"Yeah… Luckily they forgot we're Wizards and we can materialize at will, so… And I heard what they said… Let's try to restore enough systems to submerge this before Vadous thinks of shooting us from orbit…" Kanaya hissed and suggested a course of action.

"Just you wait…! You lowlifes…! This… isn't over… yet…!" Kurayami managed to threaten.

"Move it…" Kanaya grumbled.

"Y-yeah… But don't take all of your… frustration… on me!"

"Not like I intend to…! We'll catch another nameless prey…! And use them…! For profits…! Like we've been doing for a while…!"

Both managed to run across the room and climbed up a run ladder until they reached a room with various closed round hatches on the ground and some pincers set on the ceiling that were open: they ran past it and reached what had the looks of a control bridge.

"Alright! Huff! All power to the ballast doors! Take water in! Close main hatch! Emergency immersion!" Kurayami commanded.

"Move it, machines!"

Both cursed under their breaths and looked angered…

12:39 PM (Japan Time)…

"… We've arrived, contestants!"

"Alright. So here's the plan. I'll come to cheer. Utagai – san will relieve Gino to look after Tsukasa. You guys go and participate."

"Roger, Akatsuki – san."

"Please climb down from the Wizard Ship and head for the main entrance, contestants!"

Akatsuki, Subaru, Misora, Solo and Shinobi (keeping some distance from them) climbed down from the Wizard Ship and stopped in the main road leading to the Wizard Tower's looming figure.

"Welcome to Wizard Tower, the 3rd Battleground! This is where we'll proceed to the semi-finals and finals." The referee announced.

"How are we gonna decide the order of the two semifinals?" Shinobi asked with a hint of amusement.

"We'll use the bingo machine like we did during the Round of 8. Come this way." The referee replied.

They walked inside of the tower's main room where another bingo machine had been set: four spheres could be seen inside of it numbered as per each of the remaining contestants.

"Let's begin." The referee announced.

The spheres began to dance inside of the machine and soon the first one came out.

"Contestant Number 4: Hibiki Misora VS…" The referee made the necessary pause.

The second sphere came out soon enough.

"… Contestant Number 1: Shinobi!" The referee completed.

Misora immediately directed a hostile glance at Shinobi, who shrugged his shoulders and looked like he didn't care about it.

"Thus, the 2nd semi-final will be Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS Contestant Number 8: Solo!" The referee announced next.

"So. Our new battle is forthcoming, Hoshikawa." Solo smirked.

"So it'd seem." Subaru calmly replied.

"The semi-final will start right now! We'll climb to the topmost floor with this elevator."

The elevator climbed into a small hall where a set of stairs led into the open rooftop: a round battle stage had been erected there along with two short stairs to climb into it so both Misora and Shinobi assumed their posts while Subaru, Solo and Akatsuki stood in one side as the public.

"Battle Start!" The referee shouted.

"I go first! Air Spread 3! Mahi Plus! Mad Vulcan 3!" Misora announced her initial set of moves.

The Air Spread 3 inflicted multiple shots of damage to Assassin and paralyzed him, leaving him open for a volley of bullets from the Mad Vulcan 3.

"Heh, heh. Not bad, woman… I go next. Plasma Gun X! Ice Grenade! Elec Slash!" Shinobi announced.

Harp was able to the dodge the Plasma Gun X's shot, but the Ice Grenade trapped her in a block of ice and the Elec Slash inflicted double damage due to her status.

"Che! 400 Points of damage in the first round… I gotta be careful or he'll tear me to pieces." Misora muttered in a grim tone.

"What's wrong, woman? Scared?" Shinobi teased while laughing and sounding amused.

"Who's gonna be afraid of a Halloween rip-off? Black Ink! Synchro Hook 3!" Misora grumbled before announcing her next move.

"Huh? What the…!" Shinobi cursed upon realizing what she was aiming at with this combo.

The Black Ink reduced Assassin's visibility, and the Synchro Hook 3 provoked for Assassin to be 'synched' with Harp, so he lost the same amount of damage he'd inflicted earlier: Assassin recoiled and growled something under his breath.

"Che! Stun Knuckle! Radar Missile!" Shinobi announced.

Harp managed to dodge the Stun Knuckle, but the Radar Missile zeroed on her and managed to hit her.

"Plasma Gun 3! Drill Arm 3!" Misora announced another set of moves.

The Plasma Gun 3 paralyzed Assassin and the Drill Arm 3 inflicted continuous damage.

"Che! Recovery 300!" Shinobi grumbled.

"Recovery 200! Hammer Weapon 3! Giza Wheel 3!" Misora announced next.

The shockwave from the Hammer Weapon 3 stunned the enemy and the Giza Wheel 3 hit it.

"Che! Recovery 300! Super Barrier!" Shinobi announced.

"… I don't like this. Shinobi suddenly jumped to defense. He's stalling for something." Subaru muttered.

"Could it be something like Nick pulled on Utagai?" Akatsuki asked.

"Damn. True. I'm afraid so…!"

"… Mad Vulcan 3! Skull Arrow 3! Heavy Down 3! Recovery 200!" Misora kept on announcing combos.

The Mad Vulcan 3 broke through the Super Barrier, the Skull Arrow 3 paralyzed Assassin and the Heavy Down 3 crushed him.

"Recovery 100! Recovery 200!" Shinobi announced.

"Maybe he's hoping for Misora to run out of Recovery Chips."

"It could be, too."

"Skull Arrow X! Death Scythe X!" Shinobi turned to attacking again.

Harp dodged the Skull Arrow X but was unable to dodge the Death Scythe X which inflicted a good deal of damage.

"Bubble Hook 3! Stealth Laser 3! Recovery 100!" Misora announced.

The Bubble Hook 3 trapped him on a bubble and the Stealth Laser 3 inflicted double damage: Harp recovered energy as well.

"Shark Cutter X! Snow Ball X!" Shinobi announced.

Harp could dodge the Shark Cutter X but she was hit by one of the Snow Ball Xs.

"Powder Shot 3! Inazuma Head 3!"

The Powder Shot 3 had also a paralyze effect, and thus Assassin was hit by one of the thunderbolt which the Ina Dragon made rain down into the Field in a 3X3 formation.

"… Piranha Kiss X! Vulcan Seed X!"

Harp dodged the first attack but the Vulcan Seed X hit her fully: she began to pant.

"Recovery 300! Double Eater! Beast Swing!" Misora announced another combo.

Harp healed, reduced the terrain and a copy of War Rock swung with his claws, thus hitting the opponent.

"… Heel Wizard X! Noised Wizard X!" Shinobi announced.

Harp was able to dodge the Heel Wizard X's whip, but the Noised Wizard X's sword hit her.

"…Recovery 150! Holy Panel! Giga Mine!"

"By all the…!" Shinobi cursed.

Assassin could dodge the Rolling Nuts 3, but he stepped into the Giga Mine and the Shark Cutter hit him, too.

"Huh! Recovery 150! Recovery 150!"

"Mummy Hand 3! Flash Spear 3!"

"… Mwah, hah, hah… Time play's over. I'll let you see Assassin's terrific Special Ability!"

"I knew it!" Subaru hissed.

"This Special Ability is Poison Curse. It will reduce to half your HP and then reduce it a further 25 per every Battle Card you may use on the next turns… But if my Math doesn't fail me, you've only got _three_ Battle Cards left." Shinobi sounded amused.

Misora gasped and checked her Folder: Shinobi was right and she'd been left with only 3 Battle Cards.

"I've still got 10 Battle Cards left on the other hand. But, as I announced, playtime's over… Your buddy's HP is at 200. Assassin will rest 100. And I can still use Battle Cards in the same turn. Thus, I pick Black Hole X. All enemies with 190 or less HP will be defeated." Shinobi announced his terrific combo.

Before Misora could react or think of something else, Harp's HP had hit the 1 HP mark and she collapsed into the metallic ground of the battle stage, defeated.

"Harp is below the limit of 10 HP! Thus, Contestant Number 1, Shinobi, wins the 1st semi – final and will be one of the Contestants in the final match!" The referee announced.

Misora stepped down from the platform with her right fist closed and an annoyed expression on her face: she walked towards Subaru and the others and sighed.

"… Subaru – kun! If you get to face him, then make sure to kick his guts for me, will you?" Misora told him with a look of pure annoyance.

"My pleasure." Subaru calmly replied.

"You'll have to step over me firstly, Hoshikawa." Solo snickered at him.

"I knew that." Subaru calmly replied.

"Thus! The 2nd semi – final will involve Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS Contestant Number 8: Solo! Take a full hour's rest and then come back here. As usual… Any other contestants are welcome to come and watch." The referee instructed.

Subaru & co. departed the scene while Shinobi merely observed the landscape and chuckled under his breath…

"… I think I know what happened. He provoked you to use a lot of combos and waste a lot of Battle Cards. The defensive thing was to lure you into further attacking."

"Hmmm! What a jerk."

Akatsuki had analyzed the possible reasons for Misora's oddness of almost running out of Battle Cards and had come out with one possibility but Misora didn't stop looking annoyed while they walked down the main corridor of the Wizard Ship.

"… Sorry, Subaru - kun, but I don't feel like going to watch and having to see that guy there. I'm going to rest for a bit and watch over Tsukasa – kun..." Misora told him.

"I'll be there." Akatsuki announced.

"Thank you, sir. I'll phone Lartes – sama to check on everything in the meanwhile." Subaru smiled.

"Good idea."

"Solo is gonna make you make a show if he beats ya! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Come on. Solo has his pride and he knows I have. He won't even think of something like that. He'll merely smug-smile at me and then beat the crap outta Shinobi. But not like I intend to lose in purpose!"

"Yessir! I'll tell that Frenchman wannabe to spit it out: Solo likes dressing like a girl! Mwah, hah, hah!"

_Jeez. What a bothersome guy! I'm getting fed up, really!_


	12. Chapter 12: Battle of Rivals

**Chapter 12: Battle of rivals**

13:52 PM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Here we are, Subaru. Good luck."

"Thank you, Akatsuki – san, sir."

"Do not try to rush it, War Rock, or…"

"Shaddup, Claw Man! I'm the Big Boss 'ere!"

"I am Acid. Not "Claw Man"…"

"Ignore them."

"Acid Disaster came! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Shaddup already, Rock. Focus or Solo is gonna make you dress like a girl if you lose."

"What! Then I won't lose!"

Subaru and Akatsuki stepped into the open topmost floor of Wizard Tower: the skies had turned gray and it looked like it was about to rain plus a sharp cold wind was blowing across the arena: Solo was standing on the arena and didn't seem to mind the discussion between Subaru, Akatsuki, War Rock and Acid.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Let's see who I get to beat to a pulp next… Aren't ya interested, Assassin?"

"… _Kuusee noojai_."

"Huh? "Wanna beat the gray jerk"… Obviously. But we don't decide. They decide. And I'd have far more pleasure beating the purple jerk but beating Hoshikawa wouldn't be bad publicity for Hyde – sama either… It'd be supreme, even! Mwah, hah, hah… But I dunno why the weather turned like this all of sudden… Looks weird…"

Shinobi was leaning his back against one of the walls while looking amused and having his arms folded as he chatted with Assassin over the outcome of the battle yet he seemed to be concerned for the weather.

"So. You came. Hoshikawa." Solo sounded amused.

"Have I ever run from a battle, perhaps?" Subaru raised an eyebrow and sounded skeptical.

"Of course you haven't. That lowlife has." Solo replied with a smug smile while glancing towards Shinobi.

Shinobi either played deaf or didn't have a good counter-argument to Solo's announcement.

"Brrr! Chilling… Ahem, ahem! The 2nd Battle of the Wizard City semi-finals! Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS Contestant Number 8: Solo! Battle Start!" The referee sounded like he found the weather to be too cold before announcing the start of the battle.

"I go first. Edogiri Blade X!" Solo announced.

"Barrier!" Subaru counter-announced.

The Barrier nullified Solo's first attack so Laplace stepped back and assumed a defensive state.

"Heat Grenade! Heat + 20!" Subaru announced.

The Heat Grenade plus the bonus inflicted some damage to Laplace, who didn't seem to mind it.

"Mad Vulcan X!"

"Double Stone!"

Two stone rocks popped out in the Field and they blocked off the volleys of the Mad Vulcan X.

"Dancing Blade X!"

The Dancing Blade X cut through both rocks and hit War Rock once, making him growl something under his breath.

"… I demand to know, as a Satella Police Officer, who administers the weather in Wizard Tower!" Akatsuki was yelling over his Hunter – VG in the meanwhile.

"Terapeta Inc. has its own satellite, Mr. Officer! We have no influence over their decisions, Mr. Officer!" Someone told him.

"That's something. I'll contact them next. All of us are gonna end up with fever and a cold at this rate." Akatsuki grumbled.

"Oho. Akatsuki is trying to find who staged this silly weather… I could go and slice the guy's neck, too… Who the hell thinks of setting winter seas' weather in June?" Shinobi muttered.

"… Air Spread X! Big Grenade!"

War Rock was able to dodge the Air Spread X, but the Big Grenade impact on him.

"The jerk… Get ready, Frenchman wannabe!"

He growled and assumed another offensive position while readying his claws.

"Double Eater! Beast Swing!"

The combo proved effective and Laplace was hit fully without any chance of running away: he muttered something and kept on backing off.

"… Recovery 100! Aura!"

"Ice Grenade! Break Saber X!" Subaru countered.

The Ice Grenade made all Panels turn into Ice Panels and the Break Saber X inflicted a big deal of damage to Laplace due to its Breaker-Elemental properties.

"Che! Giant Axe!" Solo grumbled.

"Invisible!" Subaru switched to defense.

Thanks to War Rock being "invisible", the Great Axe inflicted no damage and he escaped unscratched.

"Sword Fighter X!" Subaru announced his next move.

"Invisible!" Solo switched to defense again.

BRRROM! CRRA~C!

A loud rumble began to echo around the area and both of them momentarily forgot about the battle and so did the referee: the skies had turned thick gray, flashes and thunderbolts were raining down while a cold and powerful wind was blowing in from the south and the sea was agitating: the "ground floor" of the island began to fill with large puddles formed by the waves crashing against the walls of concrete.

"… What? The only one with clearance to use the satellite is the Mr. President? And you needed a whole 6 minutes to tell me this?" Akatsuki was discussing with someone.

"I apologize, Mr. Officer, but I had to call up to the Administration Council… They confirmed it once I reported that Mr. Officer was asking for explanations… I am just the reception clerk, sir! I normally don't have contact with the higher-ups, sir…" Someone apologized.

"And let me guess: he isn't in the office." Akatsuki grumbled.

"I haven't seen him coming in today, sir. But I'm not surprised since he claimed to be feeling somewhat ill yesterday afternoon." The clerk told Akatsuki.

"Thanks for the info." Akatsuki replied.

"Heh. What a show. The Apocalypse is looming closer or so it seems to want to say… Mwah, hah, hah! Let them come… I'll make mincemeat of those two!" Shinobi sounded amused.

"… Ah! Eh… Contestants! Resume the battle. I admit that the storm wasn't in the program but we can deploy a "Real Wave" shield to protect us if rain began to fall." The referee commanded before adding a relieving comment.

"Synchro Hook X!" Solo announced.

"Invisible!" Subaru now switched to defensive again.

The Synchro Hook X failed as well thanks to the effect of another Invisible Battle Card.

"… Hoshikawa! If we keep on switching to defensive all the time, we'll both end up running out of Battle Cards which may turn the whole thing around! And this is barely a battle. I know you can do more than this and that's these two years and something speaking."

"… Right. I can do much more than this. I must be disappointing the audience." Subaru grinned.

"Destroy Upper!" Solo announced.

"Drill Arm X!" Subaru announced.

Both combatants hit each other with their attacks and, since they were Breaker-Elemental, inflicted some extra damage as well.

"Huh! Not yet… Grrr! My blood's boiling!"

"Platinum Meteor!" Subaru announced.

"Zetsumetsu Meteor!" Solo countered.

Both Wizards bombarded their respective Fields with meteors and inflicted severe damage to each other: they began to pant and look damaged.

"Recovery 200! Recovery 100!" Subaru switched to HP recovery.

"Recovery 150! Recovery 150!" Solo switched to the same strategy.

"… You heard me right, Dr. Yoiri! I need someone to contact the Terapeta Inc. President and tell him to return the weather to normal! The referee just admitted this wasn't in the program and if he thought it'd sell as dramatic effect then we're all gonna get a cold and fever!" Akatsuki was actually yelling since the strong gust was almost making him impossible to be heard.

"Alright! We'll get working on it ASAP! Be careful, Acid – chan, Shidou – chan!" Dr. Yoiri replied.

"Roger."

"By the way! Please stop with the "-chan" suffix already, too!"

"But it sounds cute."

"No way… Dr. Yoiri…"

"… I fail to find the logic." Acid muttered.

"No wonder."

"We'll do what we can on our end. Later!"

"Jeez. Dr. Yoiri…" Akatsuki sighed.

By now, rain had begun to fall, but a dome of multiple variable colors formed around the open topmost floor of Wizard Tower and shielded all of the persons in there.

"… Radar Missile!"

"Ground Wave X!"

Both attacks connected, too, but they didn't inflict grave damage: both Wizards still looked in top shape.

"Grrr! I can't have enough! I want to pulverize someone! Let's go for it, Subari~! I treat to "Sweet Candies" if we win!"

"Hey! Include me too, Rock!" Akatsuki called out.

"Of course! If you can stir a disaster, though!"

"Not again…!" Akatsuki groaned.

"… Hammer Weapon X!" Subaru announced.

"Jet Attack X!" Solo declared.

Their attacks connected yet again and both Wizards kept on looking like they were ready for more than this.

"Hmpf! Frenchman wannabe~! That won't be enough to beat War Rock – sama~!"

"Skull Arrow X! Giza Wheel X!" Subaru declared his next combo.

"Mu Technology X!"

The Skull Arrow X hit Laplace and momentarily paralyzed him to be hit by the Giza Wheel X: the Mu Technology X shot several consecutive attacks and they hit War Rock.

"Death Scythe X!" Solo declared his next strike.

"Heat Upper X!"

War Rock managed to somehow dodge the Death Scythe X and his Heat Upper X hit Laplace fully.

"Freeze Knuckle! Stun Knuckle!" Solo declared a combo.

"… Super Barrier!" Subaru decided.

The two attacks were nullified by the Super Barrier and Laplace floated away before War Rock could try to counter him.

"Che. Sneaky jerk… I wanna dress the jerk like a girl!"

"Hurricane Dance!" Subaru attacked.

"Windy Attack X!" Solo attacked as well.

Both attacks connected and the Wizards began to show symptoms of tiredness again.

"Oi! Subari~! Gimme some medicine, will ya~!"

"Roger! Recovery 200!"

"Recovery 200!"

"… It'd seem we'll have to settle this soon, Rock Man! Both of us have used two thirds of our Folders already. We must use the ones we've reserved to turn the whole thing around."

"Yeah! I was about to say the same thing, truth to be told."

"Ho, ho, ho… Coming?" Shinobi wondered while sounding amused: a vein popped out on the right cheek as if to show his growing excitement and eagerness.

"… _Yaanou jikijiki seezuu_…"

"… "I can feel the rush which comes before death"… Oi, oi. It's not like those two are gonna kill each other! Just be quiet and look on. This is turning amusing! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Bubble Hook X! Inazuma Head X!" Subaru announced a combo he'd been saving up.

"Shark Cutter X! Ice Spinning X!" Solo also decided to use a combo.

The Bubble Hook X trapped Laplace on a bubble and the Inazuma Head X made an electrical attack hit him and inflict double damage: both of Solo's attacks connected, too, and War Rock was also delivered a high degree of damage.

"… Damn…! I can barely hover…"

"Mu… Ra… Ga…"

When both combos ended, their Wizards looked like they could barely cling on.

"Whoa. What an intense battle." Akatsuki whistled in surprise.

"… Recovery 300!" Solo decided to heal again.

"Recovery 300!" Subaru also decided to heal again.

"… I'm going to risk it. Special Ability: Clone!" Solo announced.

"… Aura!" Subaru decided to defend.

Another Laplace appeared on the Field and both began to move around it. Subaru focused.

"… Special Ability: Sword Claws! Target the Laplace at the right!" Subaru decided to risk it.

"Eat claws, ugly!"

War Rock managed to hit the real one and inflicted a big deal of damage thus leaving Laplace with just 40 HP.

"… Dancing Blade X!" Solo announced.

War Rock managed to dodge it on time and Subaru found the Battle Card he'd been saving up for the very last moment: he closed his eyes and then opened them again.

"… Black Hole X." He announced.

Solo gasped in surprise and looked totally taken aback by the move: the Black Hole X sucked off the few HP Laplace had and they hit the 1 HP mark thus Laplace collapsed into the ground, exhausted.

"Laplace is at 1 HP and thus below the limit of 10 HP! The winner of the 2nd Battle of the Wizard City semi-finals is Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru!"

"… Mwah, hah, hah! Say it, say it… I wanna hear it… The advent of doom and chaos! Mwah, hah, hah!" Shinobi laughed.

"Thus! The long-awaited final will pit Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS Contestant Number 1: Shinobi!" The referee shouted.

"… You win, Hoshikawa. As I suspected. You're my worthy rival."

"Thanks, Solo. You're also my worthy rival."

"… Achoo! Damn this weather! I wanna slice the neck of the jerk who staged this up!"

"… Achoo! What weather! Dr. Yoiri… Hurry up and stop this freezing thing!"

"… Achoo! I'm freezing! Aren't you, Solo?"

"… Achoo! Hate to say it, but yeah…"

"… Achoo! What in the world!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! The "Achoo Club" is funded! Oi, Laplace! Ya gotta dress like a girl!" War Rock laughed.

"What in the… That's so idiotic." Solo cursed and obviously didn't find it funny to begin with.

"Totally. Behave."

"The battle is over." Acid reminded him.

"_Your_ battle not mine, Claw Man!"

"I am not "Claw Man"…" Acid grumbled.

"Yeah. Shut the beak up." Akatsuki fumed.

"Mwah, hah, hah. Stick out your neck!" Shinobi taunted.

"… _Jikii zeitou meonoo_!"

"… "Wanna drink some data"… Hmpf." Solo translated.

"Drink data? That's a first." Akatsuki muttered.

"Go drink some orange juice or you'll end up as pale as ghost. But you're half-a-ghost to begin with." Subaru taunted.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah! Not bad, not bad. You've got quite a large tongue! Eh, Hoshikawa~?" He laughed.

"I do. And I'm going to beat you and free Nick – kun."

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Bring it on… In an hour's time! Right, Mr. Referee~?" He glanced at him.

"True. The final match will take place in an hour's time. Please return to your rooms and… Achoo! Rest…" He began saying only to sneeze half-way through his announcement.

"Y-yeah! Hope the guys on the ship thought of turning on the central heating system… This is starting to feel like the northern seas! Achoo! The president must have had some "inspiration" from _manga_and _anime_ to come up with this! Achoo!" Akatsuki exclaimed.

He, Solo and Subaru along with the referee ran off while Shinobi followed them at some distance.

"Achoo! That president guy whoever it is! I'm gonna end up bedridden at this rate! But… Firstly… I'll beat ya! Hoshikawa! Mwah, hah, hah!"

He laughed under his breath in a psychotic tone of voice…


	13. Chapter 13: Courage

**Chapter 13: Courage**

14:25 PM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Subaru! Open up! Something's happened!"

Subaru snapped out of his sleep and sat up, startled: he'd suddenly fallen asleep and had been leaning his head atop the table ever since a while ago: and he could hear Shidou shouting and banging his door.

"Huh…? What happened?"

He sluggishly walked over to the door and unlocked it: Shidou ran inside while looking very nervous.

"What's wrong, Akatsuki – san, sir…? There's still a little while before I get to the tower, sir…" Subaru asked with a large yawn.

"It's about the Terapeta Inc. President… It turns out he'd been _replaced_ by someone else!" Shidou let out.

"WHAT?"

"The Satella Police couldn't get into contact with his house so they sent two Commandos there to check. They found his wife and she explained that an unknown man had popped out of the blue, threatened them, and obliged her to keep her husband on home as well as forbidding them from speaking with anyone. And this thing took place a month and a half ago, more or less." Shidou explained in a rush.

"Then… Who the heck came up with the tournament? It was announced a month and a half ago!" Subaru gasped.

"I dunno. The man was described as wearing a black tunic, a balaclava and sunglasses. He looked about over a meter and eighty tall. He had the AKs – 74u machinegun." Shidou detailed.

"… Someone was aiming to gain huge profits from all this. It's no wonder now why they let so many advertising companies, radio stations, digital news services and TV stations into the stuff." Subaru turned serious and saw the implications of it.

"Regarding the satellite… Mr. President tried to reboot it but the imposter had switched the access codes. I rang Dr. Lartes up and he sent Sigma and Blood Shadow to deal with it. It'd seem they're still at it since they haven't reported in five minutes." Shidou explained next.

"How weird. It's strange for both Sigma - san and Blood to take so much time. They could beat a powered-up Crimson Dragon VR in less than three minutes, sir." Subaru frowned.

"Maybe the system is too complex or something big is there… I dunno. In any case… Have you finished setting up your Folder and strategy?" Shidou asked of him.

"I have, sir. I even fell asleep and I dunno why. What happened in the Cyber World exhausted more than I'd thought, sir. But I feel totally refreshed by now and ready to tackle anything sir." Subaru replied while stretching his arms so as to shake off his sleep.

"That's good. We'll all be coming to cheer on you. Tsukasa woke up already and he doesn't seem to remember anything so I guess Dr. Lartes has done his work. Gino had some rest and has also largely forgotten what happened. Misora's mood cooled down and she's coming. Utagai – san got pestered by Cygnus to come as well." Shidou grinned.

"Don't forget me. I also want to see him being kicked around." Solo added while leaning against the right side of his cabin's open threshold.

"Thanks. Maybe we should get in the move."

"Grrr! That ghost jerk is done for! I'm so gonna rip that cloth into shreds! Mwah, hah, hah! Tremble in fear, punk! Your end is forthcoming! War Rock – sama tell you that so!" War Rock grinned and swept his claws up and down.

"… Da…" Laplace muttered.

"What?" War Rock frowned.

"… He agrees." Solo translated.

"I'm going to win. And Hyde is next."

"Well said, Subaru – kun!" Misora grinned as she stepped inside.

"Pororon! Don't get cocky, cha." Harp warned War Rock.

"Wha~t… Leave it to the great me~!"

"No good." Acid grimly muttered.

"You mean he's gotten cocky." Shidou sighed.

"I don't see much trouble with that." Storm shrugged.

"I don't either." Miles added.

"These two…" Both Tsukasa and Gino muttered.

"T-this weather is brought forth by the omens! The omens are going to make a thunderbolt fall down! I just know it!" Utagai shrieked from the corridor.

"Calm down!" Cygnus cursed.

"Tsukasa – kun, Gino – kun. Do you feel alright?"

"Yeah. Ready to bust 100 Viruses in a row!" Tsukasa grinned.

"Oh yeah! Ready to beat a whole legion!"

"We're doomed! We're doomed! We're doomed! A~H! Amachi – san, please forgive me, sir! I am to blame! I am to blame~!"

"For all the…" Shidou cursed.

He ran outta the room and a BANG sound rang out as if he'd hit the metallic wall with his fist: Utagai gasped and seemingly stopped running around the corridor.

"Listen! We'll be alright! The tower is protected by a "Real Wave" Shield and we've built a corridor connecting it and the Wizard Ship which shields us from the weather! The interior shaft has been enclosed and heated up as well so there's nothing to freak out about! Now: let's move it, Utagai - san! We're gonna be late!" Shidou yelled at him.

"R-roger…"

14:51 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah… There they come… Mwah, hah, hah. Ready, Assassin?"

"… _Jiikoon erranii zeeiuos_…"

"… "Ready to drink data and be stuffed"… Mwah, hah, hah. That's the style, yessir…"

Shinobi had been polishing his _katana_ to make it look sharper and brighter while speaking with Assassin as the group of seven came into the top floor: he looked amused.

"But when will that bloody storm end anyway?"

He looked upwards: a "Real Wave" Shield was protecting the top of the tower from the ongoing storm, which had increased in intensity and didn't seem to want to slow down anytime soon.

"Oi, Subari~! The Hunter – VG!"

"Whoa! An update, then…!"

Subaru picked up the call on the Hunter - VG and Blood Shadow appeared onscreen: he had some cuts, burn marks and bruises on his helmet.

"Blood! What happened to you two? You look like you've been in a battlefield!" Subaru asked.

"Sorry. We just had to deal with both Sirius and the entire legion of the "R" version Wizards involved in the Black Hole Server affair one after the other..." Blood Shadow admitted.

"So that's why you were taking so long…! Is Sigma - san alright?" Subaru gasped.

"You know him: he's a rock." Blood grinned.

"Yer talkin' 'bout me? My ears are ringin'!" Sigma's peculiar dialect echoed off-screen.

"There's a though man!" War Rock laughed.

"Well. Regarding the settings… We've rebooted the mainframe and it's going to assume the "default" setting of calm day and sun. But it's a slow process, sadly enough… It'll take at least a whole hour to be fixed." Blood Shadow reported next.

"Guess it can't be helped… Someone was eager to make this look more dramatic." Subaru grumbled.

"We'll be going back to the H Q and watch it through the TV. Give that punk a message from us: you're fired." Blood Shadow grinned.

"I'm so gonna do that."

"… Hum-hum! Five minutes left. You two: ready! Wizards: ready! Shuffle your Folders!" The referee announced after checking his wristwatch: he looked at both of them.

Shinobi slowly placed his _katana_ inside of its sheath and climbed into the stage while Subaru did the same thing: both then stood with their arms folded and looking serious in front of each other.

"… Alright! This day has finally arrived! The long-awaited Battle of the Wizard City Tournament's final is going to begin! Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru VS Contestant Number 1: Shinobi! On my signal! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Battle Start!" The referee announced before shouting the "go-ahead" signal.

"… I go first. Purple Ink!" Shinobi announced.

"Barrier!" Subaru countered.

The barrier nullified the shot of the Purple Ink but it left a trace of Poison Panels on its wake.

"Double Eater! Beast Swing X!"

The Double Eater plus the Beast Swing X managed to hit Assassin, who growled something and stepped back.

"… Purple Ink! Purple Ink!"

"Invisible!" Subaru countered.

The effect of the Invisible Battle Card protected War Rock, but the other two Purple Inks made the two lateral rows be filled with Poison Panels, thus turning the whole Field into a mass of Poison Panels.

"Poison Storm!"

A Virus appeared on the Field and sucked off all of the Poison Panels to then shoot out a powerful attack which was multiplied per every Poison Panel it sucked off.

"… Invisible!" Subaru countered.

The attack failed and Shinobi grumbled something under his breath: he signaled for Assassin to step back.

"… Barrier." Shinobi switched to defense.

"… It's been four Turns and none of them have inflicted damage to each other yet… This is going to change radically soon enough. Don't you agree? Guys." Shidou muttered in an analytical tone.

"Elemental." Acid drily replied.

"Subaru – kun surely has some aces up his sleeves!" Gino rallied.

"Yeah! No punk will be able to beat him!" Tsukasa exclaimed.

"I believe on him!" Misora exclaimed.

"G-good luck! Subaru – kun!" Utagai cheered.

"Prove your power." Solo challenged.

"You can do it!" Cygnus cheered.

"Give it your best shot!" Miles told him.

"And zap that guy up!" Storm laughed.

"Pororon! Cha can do it!" Harp giggled.

"… Thanks, everyone! Alright! No more Mr. Nice, Shinobi! I'm going all out on you! Let's go, Rock! Dancing Blade X! Break Saber X!" Subaru signaled Shinobi with his right hand's index finger.

"… Hah! Cheers and whatever… They won't change the outcome! Mwah, hah, hah! Shirahadori!" Shinobi chuckled.

When War Rock was about to use the Break Saber X, Assassin countered and attacked him back but the Dancing Blade X had hit him, nevertheless, before they both stepped back.

"Oi! Subari~! Go all out! My blood's boiling!"

"… Okay! Noised Wizard!" Subaru announced.

"Hmpf! Shirahadori!" Shinobi countered.

War Rock's attack connected but Assassin was able to counter the damage inflicted.

"Eat your own weaponry! Shuri Shuriken X!" Subaru announced with a smug smile.

"Hah! I came prepared, Hoshikawa~! A terrific trap… Shirahadori!" Shinobi countered.

"Che! Clever bothersome guy!"

The same cycle was repeated for a third time with both of them scoring damage against each other.

"… He's run out of Shirahadori. I've got a chance. Double Eater! Death Scythe X!" Subaru announced after realizing it was a good opportunity.

"Hah! I won't be caught so easily, Hoshikawa~! Go, Assassin! Defensive Pose! Aura!" Shinobi countered.

The Aura nullified the damage which the Death Scythe X would've normally inflicted.

"Giza Wheel X!" Subaru announced.

"A never-miss attack…! Radar Missile!" Shinobi countered.

Assassin dodged the incoming attack and the Radar Missile hit War Rock fully: he growled something under his breath as he stepped back and readied his claws.

"Go, Subari~!"

"… Giant Axe!" Subaru declared.

"Freeze Knuckle! Stun Knuckle!" Shinobi countered.

Assassin hit War Rock just as he was going to strike and managed a Counter Hit, thus gaining a free Card: he froze War Rock and then hit him with the electrical attack to inflict double damage to him: War Rock growled and stepped back.

"This rip-off is starting to annoy me! Grrr!"

"Invisible! And since I got it from a Counter Hit, it doesn't count towards the maximum of same-type-Cards or the capacity of the Folder! How's that for a combo, huh?"

"… Combo and whatever… I don't give a cent! Go, Rock! Sword time! Eat this one up! Edogiri Blade X!" Subaru announced.

"Hah! Swords? Useless! Eat this terrific combo, Hoshikawa~! Grass Grenade! Heat Grenade!" Shinobi laughed.

The Grass Grenade turned the Field around War Rock into Grass Panels, but the Heat Grenade destroyed them and inflicted double damage due to Elemental advantage.

"… Elec Slash! Wood Slash! Fire Slash!" Subaru announced.

"… Hah! No matter what sword you use you can't break through this little trick… Super Barrier!" Shinobi countered.

The three Sword-Elemental attacks were unable to rip through the Super Barrier, so Subaru growled something under his breath and looked nervous while Shinobi chuckled.

"… Big Grenade!" Shinobi announced.

"Grenades? Then eat up some machinegun fire! Mad Vulcan X! Mad Vulcan X!" Subaru countered.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Eat this, Halloween rip-off!"

The first Mad Vulcan X pierced through the Super Barrier and the second hit Assassin just as he was going to strike, managing a Counter Hit and making Subaru gain an extra Battle Card.

"Che. What is the guy gonna draw up next?" Shinobi grumbled.

"Edogiri Blade X!" Subaru used the extra Battle Card.

"If you with swords… I go with Breaker! Go, Assassin! Drill Arm X!"

"Is that all?" Shinobi taunted.

"… Break Saber X!"

The attack connected and hit Assassin thus making him step back.

_This is where I'd normally use a Recovery-Type Card, but he surely has Poison Apple on his Folder. I must lower his HP a bit more and then I can use the ace I've got in my sleeve. _Subaru analytically thought while making a poker face.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h! This is the real terror's start. You're done for. Muramasa Blade!" Shinobi laughed.

"… I knew it." Subaru put up a smug smile.

"Wha~t?" Shinobi gasped.

"Invisible!" Subaru announced.

Assassin's deadly attack failed and he had to step back so Shinobi hissed cursed under his breath.

"Damn. I was so close…!"

"Special Ability: Sword Claws!"

"Damn! I'd forgotten that… That's why you used so many Sword-Elemental Cards, then! Damn! I've… I've wasted my entire stock of defense Battle Cards! This can't be happening!" Shinobi gasped and realized that he'd stepped into Subaru's trap.

"_The End._" Subaru smugly announced in English.

"You're fired, ugly!" War Rock announced next.

War Rock hit Assassin with his two claws and inflicted a brutal amount of damage which left him at 1 HP: Assassin growled and collapsed into the ground, out of energies.

"Assassin is below 10 HP! Thus, the winner of the Wizard City Tournament is Contestant Number 3: Hoshikawa Subaru!" The referee announced while lifting his right arm into the sky.

"What! Impossible! My perfect defend and poison combo's been overcome! Beaten!" Shinobi gasped.

"… _Ku~_… _Gu~_..:"

"… "Why... you~…" …is what the jerk said." Solo translated.

"It doesn't matter what you try to say. It won't change anything. You've lost, Shinobi." Subaru coolly replied.

"D-damn it all… My Lord's anger shall be terrible!" Shinobi gasped and looked nervous.

"Hah. Lord, you lowlife say. That coward and weakling doesn't deserve any honor or titles." Solo scoffed.

"Yeah! Kidnapping _iinchou_ twice…!" Subaru hissed.

"We're not gonna let the punk get away with it!" Shidou proclaimed.

"No matter what!" Misora exclaimed next.

"If he dares to show his hide then our combined power will beat him a hundred times over and over again!" Tsukasa challenged.

"Yeah! Eat this!" Gino grinned.

"Alright, then! Let us proceed to the tournament closing ceremony already, shall we?" The referee smiled.

"No… This isn't over yet, by Jove! My word!"

A giggle suddenly rang out of nowhere and everyone gasped…


	14. Chapter 14: Mastermind

**Chapter 14: Mastermind**

15:22 PM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Mwah, hah, hah, hah! Good work, my disciple! However! This is where my brilliant _scenario_ reaches its overwhelming climax!"

"As expected. Hyde! You!"

"Yours truly, my audience!"

_Hyde_ came into the area while wearing his usual elegant clothes and sporting his stick on his right hand.

"Hyde. I knew you'd show up sooner or later." Subaru coolly told him.

"Indeed, Hoshikawa! All has gone according to _MY_ calculations!" Hyde announced.

"Yeah! And in your calculations two plus two is five, right?" War Rock laughed.

"How dare you!" Hyde was getting one of his tempers again as evidenced by the way he was shaking.

"Huh? Where did this man come out from?" The referee wondered.

"You're in the way, lowlife! Vanish!" Hyde hissed.

Shinobi tackled the referee and made him fall off the battle stage, hitting the back of his head with the metallic ground and knocking him out before he jumped off the stage as Hyde climbed in.

"So. You want to settle the score." Subaru guessed.

"Indeed! But I've gotten new power! With this power… I shall kill you lowlife in live around the world and I shall be the King of Terror! Not even that Kuroban Howsad could come up with such a gallant and perfect drama! Only I, Hyde, can!" Hyde boasted.

"Then you were the one who replaced the Terapeta Inc. President and set this whole tournament up just for the sake of luring me out and fighting me." Subaru assumed.

"Indeed! And Solo coming into the fray was part of it, too!" Hyde let out while laughing.

"What?" Solo hissed.

"I got myself a little _souvenir_." Hyde announced.

He held out what looked like a dinosaur's skull made of carved grayish stone and which glowed with a red aura.

"The Dinousaur OOPArt, kept by the Dinosaur Tribe…! The one _I_ used during the Mu Continent Incident and which _you_ stole off me when I defeated Burai's powered up form in the Bermuda Labyrinth over two years ago…!" Subaru gasped.

"But… When he stole it… Dr. Orihime used it as Ra Mu's core to power it up, didn't she?" Misora frowned.

"And it _was_ on Ra Mu's core when I fought it." Subaru confirmed.

"… This lowlife has been in Mu, found what was left of Ra Mu, and stole the OOPArt from its shattered core. Remember when Kuroban snuck there? I showed you the remains. So it's the only possible explanation for this." Solo deduced in an icy voice and looking furious.

"Then the reason Shinobi was recalled in the middle of a fight with Solo was…!" Akatsuki gasped.

"Indeed! I knew the temper of this watchdog. If Shinobi ran off in the middle of the battle the watchdog would immediately chase him and track him to the tournament! It gave me ample time to search for this thing and power it up again!" Hyde laughed.

"What! Who's a watchdog? Say that again if you lowlife have the damned guts to! Go on! Say it!" Solo sounded quite furious by now and looked about to go and kick Hyde around a thousand times.

"You lowlife are. You lowlife will be killed by me, too, once this so-called "hero" is dead." Hyde smugly announced.

"Ra… Ga… Yu…" Laplace muttered.

"Hah! The level of you lowlife won't come to match mine even if you lowlife use the Dinosaur OOPArt." Solo spat some saliva into the ground to show his annoyance.

"Now that these stupid childish rules are out of the question I shall bring forth my true power!" Hyde announced.

"You want it to be a Denpa – Henkan battle, then. Fine. If we could beat a gigantic kill-all-that-moves robot then I can beat you a hundred times without sweating too much." Subaru coolly guessed before making a declaration.

"Denpa – Henkan! Hyde, On Air!"

"Denpa – Henkan! Hoshikawa Subaru, On Air!"

Both assumed their Phantom Black and Rock Man forms respectively and tensed.

"Battle!" Phantom Black exclaimed.

"… Quick Gauge! War Rock Boost! Dia Iceburn X! Spade Magnets X!" Rock Man announced a terrific combo.

"What in the…!" Phantom Black cursed.

Rock Man increased the speed in which his Custom Gauge filled, boosted War Rock to be invincible while in "Locking On" mode, summoned Dia Iceburn to freeze Phantom Black and made Spade Magnets inflict double damage to Phantom Black.

"You lowlife…! Grave Joker X!" Phantom Black hissed.

Grave Joker appeared on the Field, punched the ground and made three Giant Building Blocks appear in random positions but none of them actually hit Rock Man.

"… Grass Grenade! Ox Fire X!" Rock Man announced another combo.

The Grass Grenade turned the Field into Grass Panels, and Ox Fire X's attack inflicted double damage again due to Elemental advantage on the terrain.

"Phantom Claw! Stick Sword! Phantom Slash!"

"… Invisible!"

Phantom Black's three default attacks failed because of Rock Man turning invisible and dodging them.

"Che! Quick Gauge!" Phantom Black grumbled.

"Cygnus Wing X! Wolf Forest X! Moon Disaster X!" Rock Man announced next.

Another combo of Mega-Class Battle Cards inflicted heavy damage to Phantom Black.

"Enough games! Thanks to the power of the Dinosaur OOPArt, my next Fire-Elemental attack gets a 25% power boost! Jack Corvus X! Its normal attack points are 380… 25% of this number is 95… Thus! Its total power rises to 475! Hah, hah, hah!" Phantom Black laughed.

"Super Barrier!" Rock Man countered.

"What!" Phantom Black hissed.

The attack of Jack Corvus X was nullified by the Super Barrier and Phantom Black looked quite pissed off.

"Che! Recovery 300!"

"Acid Ace X!" Rock Man announced.

Acid Ace locked on the enemy and inflicted double damage while Phantom Black kept on hissing curses under his breath.

"Keep it up, Subari~!"

"Sword Fighter X!" Rock Man announced.

"Shirahadori!" Phantom Black countered.

Both combatants inflicted damage to each other and then resumed their standard poses.

"Go, Subari~! Bust the jerk a million times!"

"Of course, Rock! Cancer Bubble X! Crown Thunder X!"

"By all the…!" Phantom Black cursed yet again.

Cancer Bubble X trapped the enemy in a bubble and Crown Thunder X's lighting inflicted double damage again.

"You lowlife…! Recovery 300! Yeti Blizzard X!" Phantom Black roared in pure anger.

"Barrier!" Rock Man countered.

The Barrier protected Rock Man from the snow balls Yeti Blizzard summoned into the Field.

"Hah! With this one… I shall destroy you lowlife! Ultra-Rare Giga-Class Battle Card: Meteor of Crimson!"

"… Same trick won't work twice… Death Shadow got me in Planet "Omicron" with that but you won't, Phantom! Battle Card, Aura! How's this like?" Rock Man countered.

"No way!"

Not even the infamous Crimson Dragon was able to inflict damage to Rock Man thanks to the Aura.

"… I'll be borrowing your power, Solo! Burai X!" Rock Man announced while looking at him.

"Go ahead. Kick his useless hide." Solo grinned.

A copy of Burai appeared on the Field and delivered a punch and kick combo to Phantom Black.

"Recovery 300! Auriga General X!"

"Recovery 200!"

Rock Man healed and prepared to receive the Hell Roll attack of General Auriga: he hissed and managed to hold on.

"Recovery 50!" Phantom Black healed.

"… Sword Fighter X! Drill Arm X!" Rock Man announced.

Both attacks hit Phantom Black and inflicted a good deal of damage, making him drop below the 500 HP mark: Phantom Black growled and stepped back.

"… Brachio Wave X!" Phantom Black announced.

Rock Man was hit by the attack, but he didn't seem to care about the fact: he'd closed his eyes and looked decided.

"What?" Phantom Black wondered.

"Hmmm… Well. Guess the time to use these finally came. Look on! You recognized my power. I'll recognize yours. If you can hear me… Then know this: I'm going to use your power to win this battle." Rock Man suddenly looked skywards.

"What the hell?"

"Oho. Coming?" Solo seemed to guess what was gonna happen.

"Oi, oi. What's "coming"?" Akatsuki asked.

"Heh, heh, heh. A yet-to-be-used technique… A great power…! Now! Show it to me, Rock Man!" Solo grinned.

"… This Mega Card is really unique. Why? There's only one sample in the whole world. And someone made it for me to use. So I'll use it and you'll see the extent of its power!" Rock Man made a dramatic pause.

"What? Is that even possible?" Phantom Black gasped.

"I knew it." Phantom muttered.

"What? What did you knew? Speak!"

"That this was gonna end up badly. As always. Because you get distracted with your rage and such." Phantom sighed.

"Shut up! I can still win!"

"Not anymore." Rock Man coolly replied.

"What?"

"… Now! Activate! Mega Card… Tabuu X!"

"T-Tabuu…? W-what's that?" Phantom Black gasped.

Some data began to gather on the field and gave way to a Wizard which was unlike any seen before.

The Wizard had a humanoid shape and seemed to be around two meters tall.

Black armor made of an unknown material covered the whole of his body thus protecting him.

The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth yet it had two cavities for the eyes which were plain red and lacking iris: but they seemed to be a decoration more than his real eyes, too.

His shoulders were plain and didn't have a spheroid form unlike most Wizards: he had elbows and the armor over the hands included two small dome-shaped objects with the Alphabet "T" character colored in rainbow colors drawn upon them.

The armor extended across his legs, being thicker around the knees and ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet: rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.

The main body was absent of decoration save for a pattern drawing the same Alphabet "T" letter in the middle of the chest the colors of which were constantly shifting and mixing.

Lastly, four large and irregularly-shaped wings formed behind him: its colors were also constantly shifting, too.

"… Tabuu! The "Nomad Emissary"…! One of the most powerful Wizards in existence… Not even I could really defeat him! But he recognized my attempts and allowed me to use his strength! Phantom! Your scheme ends HERE and NOW!"

"I-impossible…!"

"Go! Apocalypse Now! Three waves of energy! 250 HP of damage per wave! Total damage… 750 HP!"

"Impossible! 750 HP! T-there's no Giga Card or Mega Card which can go above 500 HP of damage…!" Phantom Black gasped.

"This can! I said it. This Mega Card is unique! Only I posses the whole collection! It's a power which only someone like me can use wisely and not for evil deeds! Go, Tabuu!"

The Wizard named "Tabuu" beat his wings and began to build up energy around his frame while closing his body: he suddenly chuckled and spread his arms and legs wide as a large ring of energy expanded around him and hit Phantom Black thus kicking him off the stage and towards the Real Wave Shield: another two rings expanded from Tabuu's body and hit Phantom Black twice before he made a reverence and vanished from the Field: Phantom Black fell into the ground and collapsed there while seemingly agonizing: Shinobi rushed to his side and kneeled.

"P-Phantom Black – sama! W-what should we do, my Lord…?"

"Gruah… Gruh… S-shield… b-break… e-escape…!" He hissed.

"Roger! Assassin!"

Assassin formed a Count Bomb X and threw it at the shield thus exploding in impact and opening a hole which allowed the outside wind (now having less power) to rush inside.

"Denpa – Henkan! Let us go, my Lord! I'll remember this! And one day I'll settle the score with you lowlife… Burai! The Assassin' Clan revenge shall be terrible to witness!" He growled.

"Hmpf. Come anytime. I'll claim the "Shinobi" OOPArt back! Now flee, useless and disgraced valet!" Solo smugly countered.

Assassin Shinobi warped out with Phantom Black in tow and Rock Man made a smile before he collapsed into the ground and panted: everyone rushed over to him.

"Subaru! You alright?" Akatsuki asked.

"D-don't worry, Akatsuki – san, sir…! I've been through worse… Using too many high-level Battle Cards was something and given how War Rock hadn't had time to properly rest… But Tabuu power demanded a part of my own power too… It was to be expected…"

"O~w… My head… What in the world happened…? Oh my! A-aren't you Rock Man? My word!" The referee gasped once he woke up.

"Y-yes, sir… Well… The man who came here wanted to defeat me in an all-out battle so I had to defend myself… But that was off-tournament so it has not connection, sir…" Rock Man timidly replied as Akatsuki helped him stand up.

"It doesn't matter! Oi! Ushio! Bring the trophy! We must start the closing ceremony!" The referee called out.

"Roger! I had time to finish the plaque."

Another man dressed in the same suit as the referee and having sunglasses came into the area and climbed up the stairs into the stage to then head over to Rock Man.

"Thus! The absolute champion of the Wizard City Tournament is everyone's hero: Rock Man!" He announced.

Ushio handed Rock Man a golden trophy with a miniature version of the Wizard Tower and a small globe set above it and a silver plaque was placed on the base with the following text:

"1ST EDITION OF THE WIZARD CITY TOURNAMENT

1ST PLACE WINNER: HOSHIKAWA SUBARU, CONTESANT NUMBER 3

CONGRATULATIONS"

"This is for you, young man! Congratulations!" Ushio told him.

"T-thank you, sir…"

"Now! Show it to the audience if you may!"

Rock Man timidly lifted it and made a weak smile.

"Bravo! You did it, Subaru – kun!" Misora exclaimed.

"Who said he wouldn't?" Kiboyama grinned.

"He's our classmate, after all!" Tsukasa exclaimed.

"O~h! He saved us from the omens!" Utagai sounded relieved.

"Snap outta it already, man." Akatsuki sighed.

"Hmpf. Not bad, Rock Man. This makes me want to look forward to our next rematch!" Solo made a smug smile.

"Heh! When Ox sees this he'll demand a rematch."

"Sure thing…" Rock Man shrugged his shoulders.

"Hum. I would rather not." Cygnus muttered.

"That's because you prefer to take part in fashion shows: everyone~ knows that!" War Rock laughed.

"… Gu… Ra?" Laplace asked-

"What?" War Rock frowned.

"… "What's… that?" … or so he asks." Solo translated.

"Hah! A punk from millennia ago can't even come close to guess what that means! Go fish!" War Rock taunted.

"Hmpf. Whatever…" Solo shrugged.

"I would rather warn you against…" Acid began.

"We know the rest, Super Man!"

"Hey. That's me! Super Hero – sama~ you know!" Akatsuki grinned.

"No good." Acid grimly muttered.

"Alright! Wizard City Tournament: Closed! A round of clapping for our first-time champion: Rock Man!" The referee rallied.

Everyone clapped and Rock Man made a weak giggle…


	15. Chapter 15: Time

**Chapter 15: "Time"**

10:14 AM (Japan Time), Saturday July the 1st…

"… I got Dr. Lartes' report about the background of Shinnai Nick. It's not a nice thing, though…"

"We'd guessed that."

Akatsuki had come into his office from having received a report about Nick and Subaru and Misora were present to hear to it.

"Nick used to live in that city which he named. In past ages, it used to be the capital city of the Shinobi Tribe. The city was also one part of the On'Setsu Kingdom of which Kuroban Howsad is the last living heir and would've been future King had it not been for the destruction of the Kingdom by Mu." Akatsuki explained the background.

"And like Nick – kun said, the Shinobi OOPArt was being kept there, on the capital's temple?" Subaru assumed.

"Yeah. It used to be housed in a large temple which had survived wars, invaders, earthquakes and floods. It keeps on being the city's main spot of interest. Anyway… Nick was just a simple inhabitant. He lived alone with his blue-collar-worker father. His mother had died when he was two due to plague of fever which shook the country almost fifteen years ago and which left many dead." Akatsuki kept on explaining.

"And something happened." Misora guessed.

"Indeed. One March Friday Nick didn't come to school. His neighbors called the police while being afraid that his father had done something to him. He was feared by his brutal tempers once he got drunk and it was a habit that Nick used to stay at friends' houses some nights to feel safer and be out of his reach." Akatsuki kept on reading.

"His father beat him up or something like that?" Subaru tried to think of what could've happened.

"The local police sent two agents and they found the back door to be badly locked. They got in and found the man dead."

"Dead!" Both gasped.

"He'd been stabbed in the back by with a kitchen knife while he'd been laying face-down on his bed. Some cans of beer could be seen nearby thus clearly indicating that he'd been drunk. Nick's room bed was untouched and he hadn't slept on it. They found a chair with some loosened ropes on it along with blood stains and cum stains. They immediately called the CSI people to try to reconstruct what happened while they sent patrols to try to locate Nick." Akatsuki's face turned grave once he detailed this part.

"… His father raped him?"

"Yeah. The CSI people were very clear about it. There were also some traces of Nick's blood on the knife, too. They assumed that Nick had been about to go to sleep, as indicated by all clothes except a set of pajamas missing. His father had seized him and violently took off his clothes before he tied him into the chair and raped him. They even found a torn piece of a sheet which looked like an improvised blindfold. They assumed that the father was going to kill him, but maybe he was feeling sleepy due to the effect of the beer and went to lay into his bed. The autopsy determined that the man had died around two in the morning. And Nick always came back home at eight o'clock. So, in those hours in which Nick was surely totally traumatized and shocked, he ended up developing his split personality disorder and Shinobi came to exist." Akatsuki listed while keeping his face grave.

"What a horrible thing!" Misora had turned pale.

"I know. But this is reality." Akatsuki sighed.

"… So. Then… Shinobi managed to escape. Maybe the knife had been left nearby… He then went and stabbed his father before running off his home... And something tells me he headed for the temple. How long ago did this happen, anyway?" Subaru tried to reconstruct the happenings.

"Well, Shinobi said it, around the "Ghost Crisis" thing when Hyde firstly appeared on-scene, bit over 2 years ago… He must have happened to be investigating the OOPArt and found Shinobi there who might be trying to steal it and sell it so he saw potential on him somehow…"

"Maybe the OOPArt reacted to his touch? Or maybe Shinobi had no trouble saying he'd killed his father. I'm rather sure that the second thing must've been what got Hyde's eye. He killed his father but didn't regret it and instead found it funny and thrilling. Yeah. It had to be like that! I'm convinced of it… And Hyde then must've remembered about "Assassin" who they had found during their search for Mu Denpa Bodies and had not yet reported of to Dr. Orihime so he granted it to him and they quickly formed a natural bond…" Subaru filled the gaps.

"Yeah. Pretty sure that that's how it ended up being… Hyde must've taken the guy to somewhere else and started to train him while at the same time continuing the mission of finding out how to unseal the Mu Continent…" Misora nodded in agreement.

"This sums it up pretty neatly. The only problem left is finding that jerk and freeing Nick. Yet… Say. You told me Kuroban did something with Hikaru to remove him from Futaba's mind, right?"

"Yeah. He implanted him in some kind of cybernetic human body having a largely mechanical brain and such… Wait! Of course…! We could do the same to Shinobi and thus have Nick – kun regain his original body! I'm sure that Boss could come up with that…!" Subaru gasped.

"Whoa!" Misora whistled in surprise.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I'm back, Subari~! And ready to sign a billion autographs too! Mwah, hah, hah."

"By all the… I'm not a cinema guy." Subaru cursed.

"But ya were seen over the TV ya know! "Rock Man – sama's Fan-Girl Club" has 10541 members already according to Moon Disaster! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Don't believe Moon Disaster's numbers. He pulled something similar on me too." Akatsuki grumbled.

"Pulling pullers of pulls?"

"Jeez. Go fish."

"Mwah, hah, hah. I'll bring some tuna!"

"Yeah, yeah. Go tuna." Subaru improvised.

"Patent that before I get back or I'll tell everyone ya wear briefs under the shorts! Mwah, hah, hah!"

War Rock vanished and Subaru turned red yet Misora merely lifted an eyebrow and Akatsuki didn't seem to get the point of that.

"I don't." He muttered.

"Huh? What did you say?" Akatsuki asked.

"Ah! N-nothing, sir! Let us focus on the important matters, sir! By the way, Akatsuki – san, sir… Regarding the sea fortress…"

"Gone."

"Gone?" Misora gasped.

"Yeah. A little while after we escaped the thing hid under the sea again and given how it can withstand the brutal sea pressure and dive very deep then it's very hard to find it. Something tells me that maybe we didn't get to delete those two and they instead materialized into the real world to escape the explosion out of pure instinct." Akatsuki explained.

"Sheesh! And now we have 3 parties to worry about, then? Kuroban plus Hikaru, Hyde plus Shinobi and Kurayami plus Kanaya…! What a club! But at least given each one's different styles they'll never combine… How are we gonna handle that?" Subaru groaned.

"Dunno. That's the problem." Akatsuki sighed.

"Crap. As if one wasn't enough of a headache…"

"Yo~! Got some news, B-B-B-B-Bertie~!"

"Omega – san… What now, sir?"

Omega suddenly dropped down from the ceiling and landed while lifting his arms and having a grin on his face: he was seemingly trying to appeal as the nice guy.

"I checked out Kuroban's former "Ultimate Orb" shrine location! And guess what I found, B-B-B-B-Bertie~?"

"A clue, sir."

"Correct! Yessir! A very important clue… A message left behind by Hikaru to Futaba – chan!" He grinned.

"Is that so? What was it about?"

"… "Yo~! Tsukasa~! When ya hear this lil memento then I'll have travelled with my new _aibou_ to a cool and excitin' place~! And we won't be coming 'back so this is a last message for ya~! The place's name is "parallel Universe" so if ya dunno the meaning ask Hoshikawa~! Laugh and grow fat! Hikaru says bye-bye~!" … That's all." He quoted.

"Typical of Hikaru, yet… "Parallel Universe"… This is what seemingly could've happened to Tabuu…"

"Nope, Tabby – chan went to stir trouble back at Akihara Town!"

"Huh? Then why haven't we heard of that, sir?"

"'Cause that was way back in the year 2011…"

"2011 again! Now, sir… Kurayami and Kanaya said someone named "Rock Man" who lived in that year defeated Death Shadow, sir! Is that really true, sir? And they said that you "got in the way", sir…!"

"Yessir! We didn't say a thing 'till now because Boss believed we'd be laughed at for coming up with such a vain science-fiction claim: he's rather shy when it comes to admitting what he can really do, ya see~! Remember the cannon thing in our HQ? It's on the same league~!"

"Whoa. So you can time-travel…! And Tabuu ended up there? Did he cause trouble?"

"Well! Some, yeah… But rather local-scale and nothing big like he did here: guess the crisis forced him to cut on spending! Hah, hah, hah! Tabby – chan got cut!"

"Very funny, truly." Misora drily told him.

"Oho. I was forgetting… Yeah. Those three fled there, came up with some ruckus and were beaten by Rockie~ and the program Boss used to allow him to imitate his skills… He got sucked up into a crack just like Tab – chan did! And those two fled for their hides… which reeked of "Diesel" brand perfume too… Ho, ho, ho!"

"Please…" Subaru looked skeptical.

"So! That leaves those two outta the picture! B-B-B-B-Bertie~ and company can handle Hyde and the punk: we'll handle those two jerks which pulled a stunt on us! I wanna tell the gal that her make-up is worse than Madonna's." Omega grinned.

"Doubt that she bothers about such a stupid thing…" Misora looked skeptical.

"Skeptical Woman shows up?"

"I am a _girl_! Not a "woman"! Watch your tongue or I'll tell Vadous to shut you in the capsule for 80 days!" Misora warned.

"And starring Moon Ace~!"

"YO, YO, YO! Welcome to Moon Ace's live show! Today's topic: Rock Man – sama's Fan-Girl Club has reached the 11, 000 members mark! Appliances are being filled every 3 minutes 13 seconds!"

"No way…" Akatsuki slapped his forehead in defeat.

"KYA~H! ROCK MAN – SAMA~!" A chorus of voices shrieked.

"That's pre-recorded." Misora fumed.

"Good ears!"

"I'm a singer to begin with! I know how to differentiate a record from something live! Obviously enough!"

"Yours truly."

"OMEGA~!" Dr. Lartes roared.

"Ops. Jimmy Carter came."

"Do you want me to recall Boss from his investigations in Sharo Nation or WHAT?" Dr. Lartes growled.

"Dunno. Ask Officer Akatsuki – sama~ over there."

"Akatsuki is unrelated!"

"He's guilty."

"Guilty? Me? Of what?" Akatsuki grumbled.

"Of stealing Queen Tia's gear and burning it." He announced.

"I'd love to do that but then I'd get scolding from Dr. Yoiri and the Chief so it's not worth doing that to begin with."

"Then I'll do it. I can always say she was harassing me."

"Hum. If it's you then it'll surely work. Everyone knows about her persistent nature anyway." Akatsuki muttered.

"I don't see a trouble with that. We don't need another stressed person thank you very much." Dr. Lartes seemed to agree on it.

"Hey! Where did Omega go to?" Akatsuki gasped.

"I'm Spider Man XXXI!"

"Spider Man XXXI… What idiocy, really!"

"Yo~! Dr. Bones! Bone a bone! Bone for a bone! Mwah, hah, hah! Skeleton Man will terrorize us!"

"Don't you mean Crown Thunder? He's a skeleton to begin with! Oi, are you hearing?" Akatsuki shot back.

"Well then, Crown Thunder will thunder a crown!"

"Emergency retrieval! I've had ENOUGH of your idiotic acts!"

A purple-colored "portal" formed in the air and sucked Omega inside before it closed and everyone sighed in relief.

_Omega – san is impossible…!_

10:55 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Nyarth~h! Gra~th! Gru~sth! Kill! Destroy~ them! I'm so gonna kill all of them! Grrr! U~h!"

"Hyde – sama…"

Hyde was pacing up and down a small and largely unfurnished room which only had a desk, a chair and a bed while kicking the walls or banging the furniture, being obviously frustrated: Shinobi had popped out on the threshold and looked surprised.

"Whaddya want!" Hyde snapped at him.

"Huh…. What ought to be done, my Lord?"

"Grftjx! I dunno! Do whatever you want to but make sure that that watchdog can't trace you! And be back here before the evening!" Hyde growled.

"Roger, Hyde – sama. I shall…" Shinobi began announcing.

"Get moving before I explode!" Hyde cut him with a totally pissed off look on his face.

Shinobi ran away before Hyde could discharge his rage and frustration on him and he sighed in relief once he was several meters away.

"Can't be helped… Hyde – sama has these moods…" He muttered in a resigned tone.

"… No, no and NO! That WON'T DO! I need - IDEAS! I need - INSPIRATION! SHINOBI~! COME BACK ERE~!"

"Y-you called, my Lord?"

"You! Give me an idea! Back in February you said "tournament" and that's how I came up with the whole thing!"

"Huh… Time…?"

"Huh… Time… Stall for time… Bide my time… Wait for the time to strike back… The flow of time… Time-Space…! Time…! TIME…!"

"No good. He's getting funny ideas again… Why couldn't you say "lilies of the valley" instead?" Phantom sighed.

"Eh… But I thought it was something intelligent…"

"No good."

"… Time…! Time…! Time…! TIME…!"

"My Lord, are thou alright?" Shinobi asked.

"Huh? Huh… I am… But… My mind is rushing! A new world is spreading in front of me…! No… Future, they say? No… That's what losers choose! No, no! A gentleman like me would rather choose _past_!"

"I'd rather say _present_ is fine already."

"Present is a fleeing thing! No… The past! When I intruded WAXA's Main Computer 2 years ago…! I discovered something there which could be useful! But! They must be expecting us to make a move by now. Let us wait… One month. Truly. One month will suffice. Thus, around the 1st of August, my new plan should come into motion! And its supporting axis will be "time" itself…!" He laughed.

"C-congratulations, my Lord!" Shinobi improvised.

"Mwah, hah, hah! See? That's another good reason why you're my worthy disciple! You can think of other things I cannot! And thus… My new plan will be splendid and unexpected!"

"Speaking of the past… Those two… Kurayami and Kanaya… Claimed that the Subspace could time-travel and that they'd been at the year 2011 to stir up some ruckus…" Shinobi ventured.

"Who could have data involving that…? Ah! Obviously… Rock Man's lookalike!"

"Blood Shadow, thou mean, my Lord?"

"True! That repulsive robot… You must find him and hack his Hunter – VG's contents! I'm sure there's a log there… Which can help us narrow down the right moment to travel to!"

"Splendid, my Lord!"

"Let's give it one week's time. By July the 8th we should have drawn that guy out… Try capturing that Moon Disaster barbarian and we'll use him as hostage to force Blood Shadow to show up. And then we'll outnumber the lowlife and get the data!" Hyde exposed with a grin.

"Brilliant, my Lord!"

"… _Tooraano… yanou shimatte yoike_?" Assassin asked.

"… "_Hostage… Can we do the guy in?_"…. No! Hostages are to be kept alive and besides that'll be only for a little while… When we get the data then we could dispose of the red jerk, too!"

"No! That won't work. They won't send him alone. They'll have a backup ready and it'll most probably be that Sigma barbarian! We must be quick before the barbarian can show up! Get it?"

"Roger."

"Mwah, hah, hah! If you thought that I am defeated then think again! I will go there and _change the future_! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"

"O~h! Spectacular, my Lord!"

"And if they want to stop me then come after me! But if you try any action then I will raze entire cities to their foundations! And I shall be remembered as "Phantom Black the Mighty Destroyer"!"

"The Almighty and Grand Phantom Black – sama!" Shinobi improvised as if to increase his mood.

"Exactly! Tremble, world of the past! Mwah, hah, hah!"

"Lovely. Totally. I can already predict the outcome." Phantom grimly muttered with a sigh of defeat.

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I've turned defeat into victory! I am - INVINCIBLE~!"

Phantom sighed while the other three laughed…


	16. Chapter 16: Everyday routine

**Chapter 16: Everyday routine**

13:03 PM (Japan Time), Friday June the 30th…

"… Nya~h! What a…! What a…! What a _villain_!"

"Luna – chan…"

Luna had seen photos of Misora taking part in the Wizard City Tournament and she looked annoyed: she tossed the Hunter – VG into the ground and kicked it around: Mode was exasperated.

"Luna – chan! I need the Hunter – VG to subsist! Don't break it!" Mode pleaded.

"A disguise! A fake name…! And even so…! They actually let that villain take part…! What a…! That villain bribed all of them…! I'm so gonna bring that villain to court…!" Luna hissed.

"You can't." Mode sentenced.

"Huh? Whaddya mean, I can't?" Luna demanded.

"You're a minor and she also is, Luna – chan. She had all the rights in the world to conceal her identity while competing in the streets. And mind you: that Solo person came in disguised, and that Shinobi person seemed to have gone with another look, too. And Subaru – kun did too."

"What! Subaru – kun did too?" Luna gasped.

"That's because you tend to get obsessed and you get these jealousy fits, Luna – chan. What's done is done." Mode kept on saying.

"No way~! I must split them off! I'm the only one who can be a hero's spouse~!" Luna hissed.

"Luna – chan… This is reality. It's cruel. But this is how the world works like. You'll have to bear with it." Mode rolled her eyes.

"Just you wait, you villain…! I'll get you…! And I'll retrieve my _beloved_ Rock Man – sama~!" Luna hissed.

Mode sighed in defeat while Luna kept on threatening aloud…

13:08 PM (Japan Time)…

"… I'm going to explode."

"Uh-oh."

"Let's scram!"

Urakata Mamorou had managed to chase away a crowd of reporters who'd showed up on the front entrance of Okudama Studios by putting put up a face which looked like he was going to slaughter all of them alive and they ran off.

"Jeez. Why they had to come bother us? We're a _TV Studio_ to begin with, aren't we? If we want to make any news about Misora taking part in the Wizard City Tournament then we'll air them! But I can't stand these _paparazzi _people AT ALL!" Mamorou grumbled.

He stepped back inside and walked over to the security guard Wizards to give them instructions.

"Don't – let – any – reporters – who – are – not – part – of – our – staff – come – into – the – perimeter!" He ordered in a rather icy voice and making a pause to breathe between each word.

"Roger." Both confirmed.

Mamorou rolled his eyes and walked down a corridor until he spotted a room with Misora's name on its plaque and he knocked on it.

"Misora? Are you busy?" Mamorou asked.

"No. I'm coming out."

Misora came out and looked totally unimpressed while Harp was floating around her.

"You managed to chase them away, sir?" She assumed.

"Yeah. Somewhat."

"Jeez. They're so persistent… How many of them were men?" She muttered with obvious annoyance.

"All of them: ten persons." Mamorou confirmed.

"I knew it. When it comes to girls and women, they are men. When it comes to boys and men, they are women… They should turn the thing around, sir." Misora grumbled.

"Yeah. They really should." Suzuka sighed.

"They should destroy these sexist _clichés_ once and for all."

"I'm the ghost of the Grand Canyon!" A voice rang out.

"Another saboteur?" Mamorou cursed.

"No. I know that tune. Omega. I thought Dr. Lartes was going to close you in the capsule for you idiocies a while ago at the Satella Police HQ and yet you're roaming free. Explain this." She looked upwards.

Omega dropped down and grinned while Mamorou, Suzuka and Ice looked slightly surprised.

"Easy~! I just had to turn off the lights and use my solo Denpa – Henkan mode to jump into the Wave Road, _Meitantei_ Hibiki~!" He admitted with a broad smile.

"Lovely. What are you up this time around?" She demanded.

"Ask Inspector Wallander." He suggested to her.

"Don't know him." She shot back.

"Too bad." He made an exaggerated sigh.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" She questioned.

"He could solve a crime without moving from the sofa."

"Come on. You made that up on the spot." She was skeptical.

"But wouldn't that be cool for your drama series?"

"Dunno. What do you think, sir?" Misora asked Mamorou.

"We don't make up silly stuff. We make realistic stuff."

"Cha heard Urakata – san. Now go tuna." She challenged.

"At Normandy?" Omega suggested apparently out of the blue.

"Yeah. At Normandy. The furthest away the better."

"By the way! Wouldn't you know? I've got this." He suddenly grinned.

Omega suddenly opened a Real Wave pouch and took out a Polaroid which he held out with the photo aiming at the ground so that no – one could see it: Misora grabbed it and looked at it without beating an eyebrow or changing her expression.

"What poor editing, really."

She immediately ripped it into pieces which she pocketed into her jeans' right pocket and then looked at Omega with a bored look.

"Man. And I thought you'd place it there, on a corner of the mirror, as something to get inspired when you feel bored."

"Stop invading peoples' privacies and go tuna."

"OMEGA~! FOUND YOU~! NO MORE RUNNING AWAY THIS TIME~! MY ANGER IS CLIMBING INTO EXPLOSIO~N!" Dr. Lartes roared over his built-in radio.

"_Ciao, caro mio! __E la comedia e finita_!"

The purple "portal" thing formed again and Omega was sucked inside while Misora and Harp sighed in relief.

"Pororon! Finally!" Harp sighed in relief.

"Yeah. Let's go back and come up with a new song. See you around, Suzuka, Ice and Urakata – san."

"Later."

Misora stepped into her room and sat down in the seat with a sigh as he glanced at the torn photo before tossing it on the bin.

_That Omega…! I'm getting fed up with the guy!_

13:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Wha~! The world is so cruel…! If I hadn't lost in the street fights then I'd been able to battle Misora – chan…! Wha~!"

"… And I keep on telling you that your Folder sucked."

Gonta was crying in despair once he read the news and Ox was trying to point out why they hadn't made it to the Round of 8.

"Wha~! I'm so gonna win the next edition!" Gonta kept on crying.

"I dunno if there's gonna be a next edition taking into account the _real_ President didn't come up with the idea…" Ox sounded rather skeptical about it.

"Wha~! Oh! World! Why are thou so cruel with me?" Gonta asked without stopping crying.

"The world is not to blame! Your Folder sucked! Hear me out, Gonta! Face reality or else you're gonna get into a pinch!" Ox began raising his voice's volume: he was clearly irritated.

"What a bunch of jerks! Wha~!"

He ran out of his house to spot Kizamaro sitting on one of the square's benches and chatting with Pedia.

"… Why didn't they let us come as public? I could've gotten Misora – chan's signature! What a wasted chance!"

"Kizamaro – kun… Things are like this! Accept them." Pedia told him.

"This is wholly and totally illogical! It defies Kizamaro – sensei's First Law of Logic!" Kizamaro growled.

"There's such a law?" Pedia looked puzzled.

"Just you wait, you actors behind the curtain! I shall unveil your identities!" Kizamaro proclaimed.

Gonta sighed in defeat along with Pedia: Kizamaro sometimes though too highly of himself…

13:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Aha."

"Aha – ha."

Akatsuki and Queen Tia had met in the outer yard of the WAXA Japan Branch and both looked skeptical: they had their arms folded.

"So!" Queen Tia began.

"So!" Akatsuki copied.

"What!" Queen Tia complained.

"What!" Akatsuki copied.

"Listen to me!" Queen Tia insisted.

"Get lost!" Akatsuki waved his hands.

"What a rude man!" Queen Tia growled.

"What a persistent woman!" Akatsuki grumbled.

"Now… You two… Can't you do anything else of profit?" The Chief asked while looking annoyed.

"… I'll go try to find out where the moving fortress went off to." Akatsuki announced.

"I'll try to use some contacts to try to find out if Shinobi and Hyde are hiding in my old country." Queen Tia announced.

"It was about time they did something else." Jack, standing in a corner with Acid, muttered while looking unimpressed.

"Indeed." Acid dully confirmed.

"And let's hope neechan's pointless chase of Hibiki ends soon as well or else we'll be in trouble." He muttered next.

"Let us hope so too."

"And don't get in MY way either!" Both yelled at each other.

12:27 PM (Shanghai Time)…

"… So? What are we gonna do, hmmm?"

"Emerging again is dangerous."

"I knew that."

"Do ya have any better ideas, maybe?"

Kurayami and Kanaya were patrolling the insides of the gigantic marine mobile fortress and discussing about what to do.

"The Cyber World of this place was almost all fried by the brutal EMP release. Only the "Temple" remains: the other servers are impossible to repair and thus all of the other areas were deleted with anything which remained on them." Kanaya listed.

"Huff! For the last time: I already knew that. We barely escaped thanks to our materialization ability as Denpa – Henkan users, but we've got no plan at all. And if we emerge in too much of a blunt manner then we can be attacked from orbit." Kurayami grumbled.

"Then _ya_ try to come up with _something. _We've got unlimited range of movement but that won't be enough. Those people would find a way to beat us. Luckily enough we've got several backups of the main server in abandoned server centers around the world. Worst case scenario: this place is wrecked and sunk again but our backups engage and go seek a list of fixed goals." Kanaya listed the possibilities which were currently open to them.

"… Hmmm… Maybe we could kill the time by catching preys and toying with them for fun? Then we'd think of something."

"Sure thing. I feel empty. I need to fill my void with that lust and power again!" Kanaya formed a smug smile.

"Then it's settled, ain't it?" Kurayami grinned.

"Settled. Let's go spread some terror and fear!"

Both laughed aloud in their evil tone of voice…

13:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah… Ah… Ah! Oh… It feels so good…! Subaru – kun, Tsukasa – kun! It feels good…!"

"Glad to hear that, Gino – kun… Besides… Your nipples are so round and soft and I can't stop rubbing them… Heh, heh, heh. And Tsukasa – kun is giving you a hand, right?"

"Yeah… You know the drill… You go first so that we both release at the same time and we can feel good… Gino – kun."

Kiboyama, Subaru and Tsukasa were making out inside of a bedroom which had a bed, a desk, one chair and a cubicle which obvious was the adjacent bathroom.

Subaru and Tsukasa were holding Kiboyama as they inserted their cocks inside of him: Subaru held him from behind by passing his arms under Kiboyama's shoulders and rubbing his nipples at the same time while Tsukasa held his legs and had made Kiboyama grip his cock with his own right hand to rub it: the group of three were smiling and looked like they were having fun.

"Luckily we could send Rock along with Storm and Miles to do a VR mission to try to take over an enemy base! And by the time they end they'll want another thus giving us ample time to finish playing around and get dressed again. Blood and Sigma – san are competing in a VR kart race too so… No – one is gonna bother us." Subaru grinned.

"Oh… Oh…! Y-yeah… We're so clever, really…" Kiboyama giggled.

"And this is a proof of how much we appreciate each other, too."

"Are you concerned about that message Hikaru left behind?" Subaru suddenly asked.

"No. He served his role. And like this I won't be dragged around by him anymore. I've grown. I can handle alone from now on." Tsukasa shrugged and didn't seem to care.

"Well said… How do you feel, Gino – kun?"

"Uh… Uwa~h!" Kiboyama cried.

He suddenly released and stained his face: both Subaru and Tsukasa gasped and closed their eyes.

"Coming!"

"Co… ming!" Tsukasa hissed.

They both released inside of their friend and panted from the effort made: they began to slowly regain their breath and quickly licked the white stains on Kiboyama's face.

"Hmmm… As always you have some sweet taste, Gino – kun." Subaru whispered at his right ear.

"Yeah. You sure do." Tsukasa whispered on the left ear.

"Well… The "two-on-one" is now over… I was first, Tsukasa – kun followed and now Gino – kun so… Let's go for the "rub play"…"

"Alright."

"O-okay…"

They took their cocks out of Kiboyama and suddenly hugged him: Subaru began to rub his cock against Kiboyama's ass while Tsukasa rubbed his against Kiboyama's: they began to moan and they looked like they were enjoying the experience: Tsukasa suddenly kissed Kiboyama while Subaru kept on rubbing Gino's nipples.

"Get ready! I go first!" Subaru grinned.

He closed his eyes and teeth as he released and stained his own face: Kiboyama and Tsukasa followed suit and they then stopped: Tsukasa broke off his kiss and licked Subaru's face while Kiboyama's licked his.

"Good taste!" They all exclaimed.

They laughed in a jovial tone as they pulled the blankets over them and apparently kept at it.

"More, more and more~!" They exclaimed.

20:41 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Fua~h… I'm beaten!"

"Mwah, hah, hah. So! How was the "triangle" today? Bittersweet?"

"Guess so…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. But I won't complain! The VR thing is funny and I've got worthy rivals! Now I can have competitions with them and that Ox jerk will have to battle Cygnus! _Cygnus a la Ox_! Nyah, hah, hah, ha~h!"

"How innovative."

"Is that sarcasm, Subari~? Did ya know? Omega wanted to give Misora a photo of you in briefs to turn her on for ya but she disposed of it without being interested!"

"Of course she isn't! She hates _clichés_. Why can't we be _just_ _friends_? Why do people always believe there's more to it? No! We see each other from time to time, fight together and such but… That's all there's to it! Now go tuna!"

Subaru had been about to go sleep when War Rock began joking with him and he got annoyed so he sat up on the bed to face him.

"Go tuna, go tune, go tuni, go tuno, tunu…" He rhymed.

"Go tell Moon Disaster that rhyme you've made up on the spot and see if he can make it jump into the Weekly Top Ten!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! That's a challenge, Subari~?"

"YEAH! NOW MOVE IT AND LEMME SLEEP OR I RING MASTER RIGHT HERE AND NOW!" Subaru actually yelled.

War Rock vanished and Subaru sighed in relief as he glanced at the starry skies and formed a broad smile.

_Whatever Hyde and his punk come with, I'll smash their ambitions! Come anytime! "Shooting Star" Rock Man will defeat you two!_

**THE END**


End file.
